Pack-Bond
by Leviathian
Summary: Sabo is different from his two friends. It doesnt really come up much– at least until they became brothers. (ASL!Werewolf!AU where all D's are born werewolves.)
1. Forager

welcome to something new that no one asked for! i made this to procrastinate. enjoy

* * *

The forest was never anything but alive. Dangerous, loud— filled with the chittering of insects and soft paw falls of monsters that towered from afar. Compared to the sickly sweet cage of High Town, or the wasteland of the Grey Terminal, Mt. Colubo could almost be a fairytale.

One that always seemed to stare back, when Sabo risked a glance.

He wasn't entirely sure what made him so hesitant. He was faster and healthier than many of the people living in the trash; an oversized animal looking for a meal wasn't the first thing he had avoided being killed by.

Yet... he couldn't shake the feeling that there was always _more._ Something he _missed._ Something too fast, or too quiet— watching him from the foliage. At least among the trash, he was sure-footed.

Still, he paused. A sweep of the boundary, of thick roots and leaves leading into the dark, proved nothing was there. Nothing watching him. No predator crouched just beyond the grass line— at least that he could see.

_I would save a lot more money if I could get food from the forest._ His grip tightened until the metal of his pipe creaked from the force of it. _There has to be tons of stuff I could forage— mushrooms, fruits, berries. If I get lucky enough, I wouldn't even need to enter the town anymore to buy food, or fight for it here. No one else goes into the forest._ It had been over a year since he had broken out of High Town, but he could still clearly remember the various pictures and some fuzzy descriptions of natural edibles in Goa's mountains. Back from when all he could do about his freedom was read and daydream. But was it worth the risk? Worth possibly getting lost in unfamiliar territory? Worth never coming back out over a meal, or two, or three, or_ four—_

He squared his shoulders and stepped into the tree line.

* * *

Sabo was right, it didn't take long to find food. Untouched, the forest was practically brimming with fruits he recognized. He had to remove his top hat just to fill it, packing bit after bit into anywhere he could until his pockets were nearly bursting with it. It was almost enough to forget the feeling of eyes on his back.

Almost.

Every step deeper past the tree line felt worse and worse. His back was stiff with it, pipe vice tight in his hands even if it meant harvesting any food was slower. He wasn't able to rely on hearing or sight alone. Not here, where everywhere he looked was crowded with plant life. Leaves rustling could be anything. Dirt shuffling could be anything. Wasting time panicking left him more vulnerable than he would be in trying to ignore it all. Even if he swore he just caught a flash of dark fur, or grey eyes, or–

Something growled far too close behind him and Sabo _booked it._

"Nope," He grumbled, heart racing. A few fruit spilled from his hat, rolling over the confines of his arms to plod back to the forest floor. He wasn't about to let something like a couple fruit be what let whatever was watching him eat him.

The growling faded behind him, high and quiet. If Sabo had bothered to risk staying a bit longer, he might have thought it sounded confused.

He didn't stop running until he was standing with his back to the trash.

* * *

Ace watched, perplexed, as the human ran away.

"What a weirdo," he grumbled, scratching at his hind leg absentmindedly. "Doesn't he know these fruits are poisonous?" Said fruits still lay innocently on the dirt, shiny and tantalizingly red. They smelled nasty though, sour to his sensitive nose. Ace growled and swat at one just to watch it tumble into the foliage and out of sight. "Not my problem. He can die if he wants." Not that he knew whether it would kill him. He had almost bitten into one as a younger pup, but even then the fruits had a stench that just didn't agree with him. Always so bitter smelling– surely it wasn't edible? _Human brats who don't know anything about the forest shouldn't try to take from it. Stupid._

Shaking out his mane of fur, Ace nosed the rest of the fruits off into the bushes. He didn't need someone to die in the middle of his territory and stank it up just because they didn't know better.

_Next time, I'll tell him before the idiot can run. A human child dying here would bring more humans, wouldn't it?_ His grey eyes narrowed. _I don't want any humans here. I don't want anyone here. The stupid bandits are enough._ Ears back, he bounded back into the heart of the forest.

* * *

Sabo didn't want to go back for as long as possible. Not until he ran out of fruit, not until his stomach hurt and his eyes kept wandering to the high walls of the Terminal boundary. He tried not to think about what had been stalking him, that day, with minimal success. He didn't know what it had been, and he had no way to know– without access to books, there was no conceivable way for him to really research what was out there. Asking around the Grey Terminal got his nothing more than spooked half-answers about monsters and massive creatures and bloodthirsty predators; it was never anything new.

The only person who could give him answers was himself, Just as the only person who could feed him was himself.

Sabo took a deep breath and stepped back over the tree roots into the forest.

_So far, so good._

For once, there was no sense of eyes. No ominous growling or flash of moving shadows. Just him and the trees– and all of their fruit. He immediately set to shoving what he could into his pockets, rushing to get it done quickly.

_I wonder what animals I could find here? I can't just eat fruit and vegetables forever, but any scraps of meat in the Terminal are tainted... maybe tomorrow I can just spend a little bit in town––_

The leaves behind him rustled quietly. Sabo froze. So did the rustling.

_Shit._

Moving slowly, Sabo began to inch towards the opposite of the clearing. He didn't dare to turn. The tiniest glance didn't show anything but the plants, unassuming and harmless. No shadows, no eyes, no low growl of a hungry or angry animal. _I'm just being paranoid. Please let it just be paranoia._ The dirt scuffed, near-silent compared to the chirping and whistling of the forest. Sabo was completely still. Unable to stop himself, he looked over his shoulder. If he was going to die, he at least wanted to know what killed him. _I'm screwed. I'm going to be eaten by whatever the hell lives here, and–_

Small, black ears poked out of the brush, tilted high in his direction.

Sabo _stared._

When he didn't move, the creature inched closer. Grey eyes peeked out from under the cover of leaves and shade and Sabo couldn't– wasn't––

"Those fruits are poisonous," The werewolf eventually said, and Sabo wondered if he had stopped breathing long enough to pass out and start dreaming.

"Y-yeah?" He asked, feet solid in place. He couldn't even twitch, eyes pinned to the boy still crouched half in the foliage. He didn't look much older than Sabo, if even. Small in stature, even crouched, the only signs of civilization Sabo could see on him were ragged yellow tank top and shorts– no shoes, no signs of any other human interaction–– Sabo wasn't sure he could manage to focus his fraying brain on the black fluffy something stiff behind the boy to confirm it as a tail. Even his bare feet were clawed. If he checked, Sabo had no doubt there were more on his fingertips.

"Did you even hear me?" The boy snapped, eyes laying flat against raven hair, "Stop starin' at me!" The words were punctuated by a sharp bark, baring canines dangerous looking enough that Sabo stumbled a step back. Whatever was on his face made t back down, nearly vanishing back into the leaves. "Look, I'm just tryna– I don't want hunters to come here looking for whatever idiot died here because he was too stupid to tell _'do not eat'_ from _'eat'––"_

"They're–" Sabo swallowed, unable to help his instinctive wince when the kid glared at him. "They're not. Poisonous, I mean." The wolf boy scrunched up his nose, brow furrowing in distaste and Sabo fumbled for one of the many fruits stuffed into his pockets. The werewolf growled at him, eyes fixed on his hand. Slowly, deliberately, Sabo pulled one of the fruits out for the werewolf to see and the boy reared his head back, nose twitching. "I ate them all last time," He mumbled. "Shouldn't you know what's edible, if you live here?"

The boy stomped further out of the undergrowth, making Sabo flinch slightly. The other child didn't even seem to notice his reaction even as the blond's eyes roved over his newly exposed features. His tanned skin was freckled and dusty, as if having tramped about in the dirt for days straight without a bath– some dirty bandages haphazardly slapped onto not even half of the various scrapes and cuts littering the wild boy's body. "It smells bad," he growled, and this close Sabo realized the other was, in fact, taller than him by maybe an inch, or a handful of generous centimeters. He wasn't exactly made more intimidating for it, with the way his fluffy black ears flicked atop his head. "They can't be good!"

Sabo hummed and bit into the fruit, raising an eyebrow from the boy yipped in alarm. "See?" He managed around the mouthful, "'S fine."

The fruit was yanked out of his hands a moment later, the werewolf boy sniffing at it delicately with a hesitant expression. Sabo gestured in vague encouragement and almost rolled his eyes when he got a glare for it, watching with renewed quiet as the boy's jagged mouthful of teeth buried themselves into the flesh of the fruit. "Hey," he tried, only half-heartedly annoyed by the loss of his fruit, and was entirely ignored for it. The other shot a considering look at the fruit as he swallowed, eyeing it critically before poking his tongue out and licking over the jagged bites. "Okay, gross," Sabo muttered. He wasn't surprised to again be ignored.

"Mm," The werewolf licked his lips twice before handing the fruit back to Sabo, only to frown when the human refused to take it. "What?" He asked, genuinely confused, "I get it, you were right, now take your shit back!"

"No way! You just slobbered all over it––"

_"Slobbered?!_ Do you think I'm some dog?!"

"Technically–"

Sabo didn't get a chance to even finish before he was being bowled over, black paws planting themselves firmly into the meat of his shoulders to pin him into the dirt. A cold, wet nose prodded at his cheek. "I'm not a dog," The kid– _werewolf,_ Sabo reminded himself, only a little frantically, _this is a whole ass werewolf. On top of me–_ growled.

Sabo weakly pat a hand over one of the black paws, nearly jerking back as his fingers brushed what was undeniably claws just inches from poking through his skin. "Y-yeah," He managed, "Yeah, I believe you, okay? You're big and strong and _definitely_ not just some dog, now can you let me up?"

"That's right," The werewolf said proudly, and Sabo huffed loudly as he sat back on his haunches right over Sabo's stomach, "I'm a _werewolf!_ A stupid _dog_ can't compare to me."

"Uh-huh," Sabo mumbled, busy struggling to breathe around the weight of an entire werewolf sitting on him. "I'm sure you are."

Grey eyes regarded him coolly. Sabo stilled, feeling sweat trickle down his neck. "Can you… uh," He trailed off awkwardly, stuck just staring back up at the werewolf. "Look, can you just get off me? I don't even know your name, so…" The wolf huffed, but indulgently stepped off of him to allow him to breathe. Sabo sat up immediately, frowning when he realized just how relaxed he had gotten. Falling into banter like that should have been so easy– even if this werewolf boy was the only other person he'd met his age since escaping High Town. _Maybe I'm just starved for interaction. That's… terrible._ "So, I guess it was you watching me, last time."

He got a snort in response.

Rolling his eyes, Sabo climbed back to his feet. "Great, thanks. Wanna tell me your name then, since you were so adamant about me not dying?" Grey eyes narrowed warily and Sabo quickly backpedaled before he could say something that would get him bitten. "My name is Sabo," He offered encouragingly. Instead of responding in kind, the werewolf only bared his teeth at him. Black paws edged back towards the undergrowth before Sabo could even step back.

"I don't care what your name is," he snarled, "It's not like we're friends! I just don't want more humans to come here– You aren't getting my name!" Without another word, the wolf bounded back into the forest, vanishing with almost a single leap. Even the sound of his paws on the dirt was quickly swallowed by the forest around them, leaving Sabo blinking and stunned.

"...I guess I'll see him around?"

* * *

i posted this at like 7am on ao3 and then fell back asleep for like 5 more hours and forgot to post it here lmao

none of this is edited, nor has a set update plan like wror. i just wanted to take a narrative break from wror tbh.


	2. Domestication

Sabo didn't see the werewolf for a while after that. Not that he was looking! But knowing what was actually in the forest— at least what was stalking him— was a huge weight off his back. Every time he entered the forest was easier than the last. Edible mushrooms, fruits, roots— he wasn't about to try hunting down any of the animals he could hear stalking about, not until he knew he was strong enough, but the bolster to his diet was a notable improvement. Out in the terminal, he didn't have a mirror, but he was sure he looked just as healthy as he now felt.

Healthy enough, eventually, to try some stalking of his own.

He hadn't seen the wolf kid since that first conversation— but Sabo wasn't stupid enough to think that he was alone. Occasional flashes of black fur in the foliage, grey eyes, dark paws in the leaves... the werewolf had been following Sabo around every time he entered the forest.

Which was… surprisingly less worrying than he thought. Even knowing that the other boy could very likely rip his apart, Sabo wasn't honestly too concerned about having to fend him off. After all, nothing had happened yet. In the single direct encounter they had, the werewolf was much more disposed to not wanting to interact with him at all– Sabo doubted he would attack him rather than just edge around him like he already was. It was almost like having a friend, if your friend was a little furry and stand-offish and was mostly following you around because of boredom and hunger.

Sabo sighed, sitting down on an exposed tree root for a break. He felt rather exposed without his hat on, but not having any bags or other ways to carry much left him with his hat as his best impromptu bucket. At least it left him smelling nice, when he returned to the Terminal. (Nice enough that he had noticed some of the more emancipated residents trailing him, sometimes. Nice enough that he couldn't sleep without his pipe in his hands.) He would never risk resting for too long– not here in the forest– but this was an area he had come to enough times to not be on edge with every whistle and rustle. The worst things, on the edges of the mountains like this, were some smaller animals and insects, and some poisonous plants. It was never quiet and yet managed to feel safer and calmer than most parts of Grey Terminal.

His hat made an audible thud when he set it down. Curling up against the base of the tree, Sabo pulled his knees in close. Just for a moment, he decided. His pipe was familiarly cool against his cheek. I've never been attacked here before– I'll wake up if I am. I just want a moment, before I need to go back to the Terminal.

—

There was a distinct snap and shuffle of twigs and leaves, and Sabo was instantly wide awake.

On his feet before he could even adjust to being awake, his pipe was already firm in his hands when he decisively swung– and nearly dropped his pipe regardless, when it collided with something so strongly the vibration felt like his arm was being torn from the socket. Sabo blinked frantically. He had been asleep longer than he thought– the forest canopy was too dark to see the tips of the trees anymore. There was barely enough light to make out the glint of grey in front of him.

Sabo paused.

"...Wolf kid? Is that you?"

The darkness seemed to swirl in front of him. An answering snarl of "Wolf kid?" trembled up through his pipe and Sabo breathed in deeply. "Okay, that's definitely you." He tugged but there was no budge. "Can you let go of my pipe? I won't attack you again." It took a long and awkward couple of seconds, but when Sabo next pulled his pipe came away freely for him. His eyes had finally adjusted just enough to make out the shape of the wolf's silhouette, but barely. "Are you okay? Sorry about that…" He wasn't; not really. Anyone would have reacted the same, wouldn't they? He doubted he'd still have his hand if the tables were turned.

Either way, he plucked the first fruit he could feel when he blindly groped for his hat, and held it out in apology. He could hear a series of nauseating cracks and pops was his only warning before the fruit was snatched out of his hand. "I'm not taking this because we're friends," the boy hissed.

Sabo just shrugged, taking his wins where he could. He's right. We're not friends, not yet. He wasn't even sure he wanted to befriend some wild child in the woods either— but it was certainly less boring, hanging out with a werewolf over all the older people left in Grey Terminal. "Sure, we aren't friends. But we aren't enemies— otherwise I'd know your name. So you're just the wolf kid."

He got a growl for that. It was kind of muffled around a mouthful of fruit, but Sabo stepped back all the same. "Th' names Ace," the werewolf snapped. His growl went quiet, mellow and distant. "I'm not just some kid. My name is Ace, dammit." Mood seemingly lost, 'Ace' about-faced and ran back into the forest.

Sabo was left blinking, too shocked to even flinch at the loud thump of the half-eaten fruit against the dirt. "...I can't believe that worked," he finally said, bewildered. For a long moment, he just stood there, staring at where Ace had vanished until he couldn't see it anymore. The quiet sound of paws and fur brushing the undergrowth had vanished, leaving the usual chitter of bugs and wind— and the low growl of whatever predators woke up at night.

"...Shit, goddammit," Sabo cursed a violent streak, spilling fruit over the forest floor in his abrupt frenzied haste. "It's so dark!" He had no idea what came out at night— and with how dark it was, he was only going to find out once it ate him.

He only tripped a couple times, getting out... and maybe sprained an ankle. But Ace wasn't there to see it, for once, so as far as anyone could be concerned it didn't happen.

—

"Hey!"

Ace startled, nearly clipping his snout on the ragged edges of the dead tree he had stuck it into. The voice was loud— and too close. Ace broke into a run.

"Wait! Ace!" Sabo was hot on his heels even in wolf form— kicking off roots and rocks as if he had lived in the forest all his life. He was just close enough that Ace could make out the dents in his pipe from his teeth. "Oh come on, I just wanna say hi!"

Nope, no. I'm not dealing with a damn human right now.He just wanted to find those weird mushrooms the blond had been picking before...! He crashed through the undergrowth, nearly poking out an eye barreling into a bush. "Go away!" He snarled without turning. "Go back to the trash place– I don't want to talk to you!" He didn't. He swore he didn't– even if Sabo made days less boring than they would be just running through the forest alone. Even if Sabo knew what fruits were good, and what plants wouldn't kill him no matter how they smelled. Even if Sabo was the only person around that didn't know what kind of monster he was, fur or not–

"I don't want a friend," Ace whispered, and threw himself into the treeline.

—

The next day wasn't any easier, not any more successful.

Wolves are so fast, what the hell! Sabo slowed to a stop, chest heaving and collar drenched in sweat. It took a long moment for him to catch his breath before he could straighten up again. I'm further in, again.

He hadn't managed to catch Ace yet, but every chase led him deeper and deeper into the mountains. It seemed like there was no end to the forest– every new area he followed the werewolf into he found new plants he could take back with him. Natural herbs, spices– a couple he recognized would sell well if he could dry them properly (It seemed the overpowering aromas of High Town was good for something, with how ingrained the smell of the herbs was in his memory).

Heaving a sigh, Sabo brushed the stray leaves stuck on him off before trotting over to where he could smell the plants. "If I dry them," He muttered aloud, "I could get enough to pay for medicine, and bandages…" Or more books. Or a compass. Grey Terminal never had books– and navigational equipment was always broken, if he was lucky enough to even find any.

Even outside of the city he was still shackled to Goa's kingdom.

Sabo shook off his thoughts and focused on just harvesting a much of the plants as he could carry without crippling it. It'd be better if I hang it, he realized, squinting at the bushel in his hands. "Where could I…? Hang this though?" He wondered. He doubted anyone in the terminal would recognize what the plants were to steal them– but that often didn't stop them. The slightest inkling of an object's value meant anything he left in the open was fair game— and everyone in the terminal knewhe foraged in the forest.

Just to his left, the leaves shifted tellingly.

Sabo didn't even twitch. Raising his voice the slightest few decibels, he continued speaking: "when dried, these plants are liked for the spicy aroma they give. Some people will pay lots for a good amount of it, if you know who to go to." Ace didn't move, intently watching him. Sabo carefully pinched a handful of leafy stems to take with him, loading them into his hat as he spoke. "Just this amount will be enough to buy some new first aid stuff."

He turned to leave and caught a flash of dark fur and grey eyes just hovering a few feet away. Watching him as he left the forest.

He's terrible at acting, Sabo thought, like he isn't interested in what I'm doing.

—

The next day had Sabo backpedaling even before he lost Ace— eyes pinned to a familiar thick leafed plant sprouting just along the roots of a tree.

Immediately, he could distantly hear Ace's rampaging bolt freeze.

"Nice...!" He hissed quietly, eyes wide, "is that—?!" Moving quickly, he snapped a stemming leaf and watched in awe as the liquid inside trickled into his palm. "It is!"

Claws scraped as Ace oh-so quietly returned to the edge of the clearing. Watching like he always was, when Sabo found something new—

"Oh no you don't," Sabo snapped. He almost startled himself with his own vehemence as he spun to face where he could hear Ace still crouched. "This one is too important to me for you to just skulk around! If you want to know what it is, you can hear about it out here where I can see you."

The forest was quiet. Heart beating in his throat, Sabo finally managed to shut his mouth. I'm going to be mauled, he thought, and was taken aback by how much more frustrated than scared he still felt. He's going to either rip my head off or never come back and then I'll be alone again— except this time, whatever animals having a werewolf around wards off will come and try to maul me too.

Black paws hesitantly lowered out of the foliage.

Sabo refused to admit his jaw dropped. Ace's long snout barely poked out of the leaves, already shifting as he moved until he was more human than wolf again. "Fine," he growled, "I'm here. Now tell me what the hell that is, Bastard."

Dumbstruck, Sabo just turned back to the plant and started speaking.

—

Forest excursions were quickly becoming less exhausting, when Ace started to just walk right up to him the moment Sabo recognized something useful.

—

"This one's really good for infection," Sabo explained readily. The berries in his hands were a bright and toxic purple. Ace practically cringed every time they were waved under his nose. "You just can't eat them— the oil produced through its outer skin, and the seeds inside, will kill an adult human in minutes." Black ears flattened back and Sabo laughed, continuing to stuff said extremely-toxic berries into his pockets while Ace looked on in mild distress. "If you squeeze out the juice though... and maybe water it down, it's great for infection!"

Which was why he was taking as many as physically possible. Hell, he'd fill his boots if he had to.

"Infection is really, really bad back in the terminal," he said quietly to the unspoken question, when Ace looked ready to shake him out of frustration. Grey eyes stared and Sabo couldn't help but keep his own pinned to the berries in his hands. "Everything is so dirty, and rusted, and abandoned— the smallest cut could become infected, and then... well, it's not as if we have doctors."

Ace was silent, body language still and attentive, and Sabo could only laugh. "I'm just trying to stay alive," he murmured. Shaking his head, he plucked a last handful of berries and carefully spilled them into his hat. "We all are."

Whatever look Ace had on his face was utterly unreadable to Sabo. Alienable and strange, on a wolf's snout.

That's probably on purpose, then, he considered dismissively, and began the trek back towards the terminal without managing another word.

—

I shouldn't go to the forest today.

Sabo frowned, critically inspecting his haul. I have enough to sell right now to get some decent supplies— but... the last time he had gone alone to sell, his disguise had fallen apart too easily. Flimsy stilts, a ratty cloak— no one would buy from a child. Especially not one who's appearance stood out so much from the typical other Terminal citizens, with his blond hair and noble-based appearance. It was risky, to keep sneaking in as he was undercover.

Not that that changed a thing.

Slumping in defeat, Sabo carefully pulled his hat to his chest and flipped the old cloak over his head. Maybe they'll just think I'm super short, or old, he tried to convince himself uselessly. I'd rather sleep in the forest for a week...

At least it was a good distraction, wondering what Ace was doing instead.

Skirting around the terminal, Sabo focused on just getting into the city. The usual checkpoint recognized his cloak by now and didn't usually give him any fuss. Maybe if he was lucky the inner city guards wouldn't recognize it either— maybe he could sneak a meal in the lower districts while—

"—assume he's with you?" The guard was asking, and Sabo snapped to attention.

"Wh—" a hand pressed against his arm just he could do more than ask. Sabo froze as the familiar pinpricks of claws poked through his clothes, instinctively slapping a closed smile on his face. "Of course," he replied politely. "He's assisting me today. May I pass?" The guards thankfully stepped aside, and Sabo strode through the gate with that same plastic grin.

—and spun on Ace the moment they were out of sight. "What are you doing here?!" He hissed frantically. "You– you're not— the forest—"

Ace scowled defensively, pushing the hood of his makeshift cloak off his head to free his ears. "I wanted to see the city," he growled. "You're the one who's always talking about coming here to sell stuff! So what if I got curious?!"

Sabo could not believe this.

"You're a werewolf !" Ace raised an eyebrow and Sabo wanted so, so badly to smack him more than ever. "You idiot— aren't you supposed to like, hate humans or something?! How long were you even—" how long were you standing there, Sabo wanted to scream, how long were you just walking behind me like you belonged there, how long were you right there and I didn't notice because I was thinking about where you were— "–we both could have been caught because you were curious?!"

"So what?! You telling me you can't handle a guard or two on your own?!"

Sabo reared back, blatantly offended. This reckless idiot— " Of course I can, " he snapped, scandalized, "but then how would I get back in and manage to do anythingwithout being chased back out?! If they caught me I wouldn't be able to come and trade anymore, and then the next time I got hurt, or sick...!" The thought of being so unprepared, in the Grey Terminal, made his stomach turn. Flashes of oozing sores and blackened wounds churned in his head violently. The threat of not finding enough food, or clean water, or medicine or bandages— "you didn't even try to disguise yourself! Is that a blanket?!"

His shout was enough to draw the attention of people passing by. Sabo hurriedly shoved Ace behind him, ignoring the warning growl in his rush to stuff the excuse for a hood back over his less-than-human features. Tucked out of sight as they were, it was easy for the citizens to brush them off and move on— but Sabo's heart still pounded rapidly in his chest.

"You," he said lowly, more threateningly than he had ever tried to be with the werewolf, "If you are going to come with me, then you're going to listen to me before you get both of us caught and worse." Ace glared at him, but Sabo took it as a good sign that he didn't try to speak. He could barely feel the claws digging into his wrist from where Ace had tried to stop him from touching him. "Do you understand?"

"I get it, you're the boss." It was sneered, the words harshly bitten out, but it'd do .

"Good." He let up, content to let Ace shove him off. "Now let's go find you a hat, before you alert every noble in the district that you're not human."


	3. Take Care, Take Caution

A werewolf could not be trusted to have a sense of fashion; Sabo would willingly and eagerly be quoted on this.

"I don't even know how you found that."

The monstrosity was a bright, painful orange.

"I don't even know how you decided you _wanted_ it after you found that."

"I dunno," Ace said, and smirked knowingly at how Sabo had to squint when the light caught the hideous garment, "I think it's pretty neat."

It wasn't. It was horribly ugly, if Ace was going to be honest. But the look on Sabo's face the moment he put it on made him immediately fond of it. The older, beaten fabric was also much softer against his ears, compared to the stiff and blocky build of the other hats they had tried. "What's the problem? You can't deny it works."

Ace wasn't entirely sure Sabo would be able to deny it even if it didn't work. The human was still struggling just to look at the hat. _A disguise and human repellent, lucky me._

"It works, but at what cost…"

Ace snickered, charging ahead through the trash just to make Sabo scramble to catch up. "So this is the Grey Terminal?" He asked, changing the subject. Before Sabo, he had never bothered leaving the forest. It took a lot of courage just to do this today– mostly at the consequence of the smell spinning him into a constant low-grade headache. He had to wear shoes just to come. The forest soil and moss of the forest floor was much better than the splintering, unstable, rusted metal-flecked dirt of Sabo's home. "I don't know why you don't just live in the forest. You're already there all the time."

His words caught up to him and Ace froze. "Not that I _want_ you to!" He snarled, whipping around to face the blond. Sabo just stared at him, one eyebrow raised, mid-step, and Ace flushed hotly. "Just stay out here where I don't have to see your stupid face," he grumbled weakly.

He didn't manage to turn away in time to miss how Sabo smirked at him. _That was fucking stupid,_ Ace's brain hissed, _Are you kidding me? Why did you even come here– it's almost like you **like** this–_

Behind him, Sabo's steps screeched to a halt. Ace looked back just in time to see his blue eyes widen in horror, lips parting on the recognizable note of his name– and missed hearing any of it, when he walked directly into a lumbering figure hard enough to knock him down to the ground.

"What the hell?" He growled. He rubbed his head, trying to soothe it as his headache throbbed to undeniable attention. "What kind of–" he yelped when Sabo yanked him back, just in time to avoid a massive hand smashing into the ground where he had been barely a second ago. Ace stumbled to his feet. His head was beginning to spin, but he managed to squint through the rising disorientation up at the human anyways.

A massive man, with long pressed back hair and blue coat– and a gun.

A gun the human had placed a hand over.

For once, Ace didn't protest how Sabo touched him, his grip tight to the point of pain on his arm.

"What's this?" The man asked. His hand tightened over the handle of his pistol, but he did not draw. His narrowed eyes traced over both the boys, landing on Ace. "A devil fruit user, in East Blue?"

Ace frowned in confusion. _What the hell does…?_ His gaze was drawn to the ground, the man stooping slowly to scoop up something violently orange– _Oh shit._

Sabo tugged, slowly, carefully inching them both backward only to freeze again as the man swiftly pulled his pistol on them. The safety clicking off was almost unnaturally loud, in the sudden silence. "So that's what you've been doing, boy," The man gruffly said, stare flickering to Sabo. "Wasn' aware we had wolves 'roun here." His gun didn't move from where it was aimed directly at Ace's head. Ace didn't dare twitch, didn't breathe– his ears flat to his head and every limb stiff. "What fruit did you eat, hmm? Anything bright and weird lookin', swirly, disgusting?"

Neither of them risked saying a word. Ace only moved to send a questioning look at Sabo, who didn't tear his eyes from the human in front of them. It didn't go unnoticed by said human.

"So no fruit." Whatever expression must have been on Ace's face must have been satisfactory– the gun slipped slowly back into the wide waistline of the human's pants. "Traipsing with monsters, are ya, Kid?" He leveled a look at Sabo and despite himself, Ace felt his hackles rise.

"We aren't _monsters,"_ He snapped, "Don't talk to us like that!"

Sharp eyes gleamed with interest and Sabo's grip turned bruising. "Ace," he hissed. _"Shut up!"_

He couldn't. The terminal was really starting to get to him– the smell burning his nose and agitating him, the shoes, the trash, the sounds of trash and rotting wood and scraping, rusting metal and humans– The human dropped his hat jerking back when Ace lunged, teeth snapping for his arm– _"Stop!"_ Sabo shrieked.

Both human and werewolf froze as the blond darted between them– barely pausing to snatch the cowboy hat off the ground before practically slamming into Ace's stomach hard enough to throw them both behind the closest pile of trash.

"Get up," He ordered, voice panicked, "Get up, _get up!"_ Ear's flat to his head, fur standing on end, Ace wasn't really coherent enough anymore through the dizziness and anger to do more than just stumble to his paws– all four of them– teeth closing tight around Sabo's sleeve and _running._

They ran all the way back to the forest– ran until Sabo couldn't keep up anymore, until they collapsed in a tangled pile of fur and fabric and frantic noises that sent every other creature flying. Ace hadn't even struggled back onto his paws yet before his head was jerked around, held tight between Sabo's hands for the blond to force him to meet eyes wide and so, so blue.

_"Never,"_ He shouted breathlessly, _"Never_ do that again! That was _Bluejam–_ he's a _pirate!_ He's stronger than the rest of the people in the Terminal– you could have gotten us _both killed!"_

Ace whined, ears lowering and Sabo tried uselessly to still his shaking hands in dark fur. "He's out of our league," He said again, quieter. "If you're going to visit the terminal, you can't– can't let him catch you, okay?" He finally let go and slumped back, head in his hands. Ace just continued to whine uncontrollably, unable to help the instinctual need to step closer and nudge at Sabo's arms. "And now he knows you're a _werewolf,"_ The blond moaned. Almost unconsciously, he uncurled to allow Ace to step up onto his lap. His hands absentmindedly pushed back into the thick, black fur around Ace's nape. For a long moment, they were both quiet, Sabo holding on and Ace carefully licking at his face. Without either of them noticing, the forest was getting darker. "Be careful," He breathed. _"Please_ be careful."

Without even bothering to move away, Ace flopped down where he stood, head and front paws heavily settled on Sabo's lap to avoid dislodging his hands.

Neither of them was entirely ready to be doing anymore more than breathing, at the moment. At least until the adrenaline faded.

* * *

Sabo hadn't left the Terminal for days. It was rough, moving between the terminal and the forest with Bluejam's men seeming to be scouring the entire boundary line– not that he was certain they were specifically looking for him or even Ace. He never stuck around long enough to overhear very much. Not to mention, he was occupied with moving and rehiding what meager possessions he _did_ have before they were inevitably found by either a lucky pirate or a keen scavenger.

At least there was no risk of being followed into the forest, if Sabo never entered it.

He had yet to run back into Bluejam. Taking extra care to steer clear of him and Porchemy both swallowed up most of his day, but it was paying off so far. Until things quieted down again, and Ace was forgotten, and Sabo's visits became just another part of daily routine, he would just have to–

"...course, if we could catch the blondie, we'd actually know where to _put_ the damn things."

Sabo immediately ducked back behind the mass of rotting wood he had just rounded.

"It would be easier, yeah, but either they're both smarter than yer average kids or Boss really spook'd 'em." There was a throaty laugh. "Would be nice if they just wandered into the traps though, for sure. Boss thinks we'd make a killin' off'a sellin' a werewolf, if it really _is_ one."

The men laughed again, something unashamedly excited in their voices– Sabo slapped a hand over his mouth, almost gagging as he fought not to be sick right then and there. He was scrambling to his feet before he could even register his body moving, practically throwing himself back the way he came until he was face to face with the edge of the tree-line. He barely managed to check he was alone before he was sprinting over soft forest floor, launching himself over tree roots and bushes and long-memorized pitfalls, faster, and faster–

–and fell, screaming, as metal clamped tight and breathtakingly _painful_ around his shin.

Sabo crumpled to the ground on his hands, choking on another scream as the movement jerked the metal teeth biting into his flesh. _No… No, no, no…_ His forehead was slick with sweat where he pressed it into the dirt, precariously balancing on his uninjured knee to blindly run trembling hands over the trap tearing into his leg. He curled in as best he could, dry heaving when his fingers came away soaking wet. Every tiny twitch jostled the wound.

_I'm going to die,_ He realized, sudden like a firecracker going off in his bare hands, _I'm going to either bleed out or be caught, and sold, or killed, and I don't know which is worse–_ he did know. He knew exactly which was worse– knew intimately to what ends he would go to _avoid it_ by how his nails poised to dig and tear into his new wounds the moment the undergrowth rustled with _company––_

"Sabo? Is that you? I could smell– _Sabo?!"_ Ace's claws felt like tiny knives among the thousands, boring into his skin, and Sabo _sobbed._ The sound only made the werewolf more frantic. "Sabo! No, _don't– **Stop!"**_ He yanked Sabo's hands away from his leg, whining when the human bit his lip hard enough to bleed to swallow down another pained cry. "I-It's okay! I'm– I'm going to get you out, Just– It's okay."

Continuing to murmur soothingly despite his own panic, Ace poked at the trap. His brow furrowed. "What… is this?" He released Sabo's hands and the blond thankfully just dug his nails into the dirt instead of his wounds. "A _bear trap,"_ He snarled. He braced both hands on either dulled end of the teeth and pulled.

Sabo _wailed._

"Shit," Ace groaned, the word hissing out between grit teeth. "Sorry, _Sorry,_ I'm–" Another harsh yank, and the metal slid out of Sabo's leg with a wet clicking sound. Ace had to lunge to catch him as Sabo attempted to scramble to his feet, pupils still blown wide and unseeing from shock– only to collapse as his injured leg folded under his weight. "Shit!" He didn't know where to put his hands. Sabo was still shaking. It refused to die down, even when Ace carefully pulled him up off the ground. "What happened?!"

A pale hand twisted into Ace's shirt. "T-The traps," Sabo stuttered out, "They're– it's–" Ace could hear it when he swallowed. This close, he could feel just how quickly Sabo's heart was raging in his chest– beating like a bomb ready to explode. "From– They're from Bluejam."

Ace went _cold._

"You…" Sabo's leg was still sluggishly bleeding. It had barely slowed– Ace was quickly becoming soaked with it. The stench of blood was almost more overpowering than the rubbish smell of the Terminal.

The trap lay, still open and inviting. Shiny with blood– _Sabo's_ blood– because the stupid fucking human was too busy trying to warn _Ace_ about them to just look down.

"Ace," Sabo gasped, and Ace could barely hear it over the roaring in his ears, "Please be careful."

The werewolf shut his eyes tightly for a moment. The smell of blood was so overpowering he could hardly focus on anything else– the clammy and weakening grip of Sabo's hands, the wind in the trees–

The thundering footsteps of people who heard screaming even a mile away.

Ace didn't even think twice. He just picked his only friend up and ran as fast as he could.

* * *

i literally just now realized that i never uploaded the third chapter here :/ its a week late compared to on Ao3 sorry lmao my bad

more werewolf angst next week ✌️


	4. Assist

Warnings for semi-graphic panic attacks/flashbacks, self harm, blood, gore, etc etc.

* * *

Sabo didn't even react besides a quiet, pained groan when Ace finally tried to put him down. The bleeding had finally stopped, at least– but both of them were still absolutely covered in it. Ace wasn't sure whether he'd even be able to keep the shorts he was wearing, with the sheer amount of blood caked into the fabric. He had learned the hard way that there was no removing too much blood and this was definitely past that threshold.

At least with Sabo unconscious, Ace could settle that lingering worry of _new human in the house, in my territory_ that still nagged at the back of his head.

He just wasn't sure whether it would be harder or easier to hide him. Neither Dadan nor the bandits would likely hear them talking (_or screaming,_ he couldn't help but think, and nothing he thought of next could make his fur lay _flat_ again) but he also would have to bring Sabo inside without jostling him or making noise himself.

Or without hurting him further. Something that sounded so simple, if only Ace wasn't as admittedly violent as he was– was he even _built_ to be gentle? (Just glancing Sabo over, he could pick out the thin pink welts and lines from his claws. Scratched out of fair skin like tattoos, crisscrossing all across exposed and dirty wrists and arms. It wasn't his doing, but Ace's nails were caked underneath from blood. If he clenched his fists he could feel it buried under his claws. Unable to shake off. To wash off.)

It was easier said than done, and he wasn't managing to fail or succeed just by standing outside.

Anything would be better than how they were now. Sabo was still panting raggedly, slumped in his arms. Sweat-soaked and silent. He hadn't even opened his eyes since Ace first picked him up. Ace wasn't about to try and nudge him awake now whether it would be easier or not– it was probably better for the _both_ of them, that Sabo just stayed unconscious.

_I'm not sure how I would react if he was awake right now,_ Ace's brain whispered treacherously. _Injured, hurt, for me– but in _my _territory._ On forest Ace had scented, had claimed. Bleeding out in his arms, as Ace willingly took him to his den.

He couldn't stop thinking about how he had found the other for the entire run. Every time his eyes caught the blood still wet on his hands Ace could see the _look_ on Sabo's face– eyes huge and unseeing, glazed with pain and panic and face splattered with his own blood up to his _brows–_

_Just how powerful do humans make these traps?!_ A growl shook Ace's chest and he didn't even try to push it down, disgust twisting the anger in his gut.

(Fear took a backburner, still cold and dense in the framework. But for now, it was just muffled; Just barely blanketed by the heated relief that rage brought. Just like every other time, Ace took his fear and dug, and dug, and _dug_ until it was so deeply buried it was like a solid, tiny, cold little cyst rather than the obsessive amalgamation it always was.)

_Do they really want me dead so badly?_

_(Why does everyone want me to die so much?)_

Ace bit his cheek so hard his teeth punctured the fragile skin, and for the first time, the taste of blood almost made him want to throw up. "Come on," He murmured pointlessly, and tried not to think about how automatically gentle he was in lifting Sabo back up into his arms. He had taken so long that it was too dark to see past the tree line surrounding the Bandit's den– long enough that Ace doubted any of them were even awake, if not already stupidly drunk.

_Too drunk to remember me bringing in a human,_ he hoped. _Too drunk to question the blood._

He didn't have to worry about either. The only bandits still awake were so drunk Ace doubted they would be able to stand up, much less ask him about Sabo. He couldn't even guarantee they saw anything different about Ace at all– and not for the first time, he wasn't complaining. Not being hassled for once was one less obstacle to getting Sabo into his "room" and actually _helping_ him.

His paw pads barely whispered across creaky floorboards, his claws making tiny little _snickt snickt_ sounds with every careful step. The den was luckily small. Small enough that even at the slow, cautious speed that they moved Ace was quickly pressing the door to his "room" closed behind him and carefully setting Sabo down by the far wall.

All Ace really had was one of the ratty blankets Dadan begrudgingly lent him that he hadn't managed to rip up yet– and an extra pair of shirts and shorts– all of which he dragged over. The shorts he tucked under Sabo's ankle, careful not to let the still raw wounds scrape across the floor or fabric. He didn't really understand why the bandits always elevated bad legs, but it couldn't _hurt,_ could it? Not any more than Sabo already was, at least. His claws tore through the shirt like thick strands of yellow paper. The human cringed, almost jerking out of Ace's hands when he moved to cautiously hoist his leg into his lap.

_I'm lucky that's the worst I'll have to deal with. _Sabo was never much of a finicky person, from what little he knew about him. Always keeping his thoughts off the surface and off his face. It was a large part of why Ace hadn't wanted to just walk up to him, those first weeks in the forest– at least hidden in the bushes, when Sabo didn't know he was there, the human didn't feel the need to hide.

Even in his sleep, his eyes screwed up in clear pain when Ace tightened the makeshift bandages into a firm knot. Ace wasn't sure whether it was a bad sign or not, that seeing the human in clear, uncontested pain, was so relieving to him.

(He's not hiding. He can't hide this, not from me. I won't screw up again.)

He'd have to clean up the blood he had gotten smeared across the floor. Hopefully what was left of his shirt would be able to mop up the worst of it– Dadan didn't have his nose to be able to tell bloodstains apart from whatever other stains were littered around the den. It was one of the small, tiny ways he could try to fix the situation as best he could.

There was nothing else he could do to hide the human beyond hoping the bandits would all have hangovers enough to be downed all day.

Even Ace knew that was in no way a solid plan. What he could do now didn't account for what would happen tomorrow, or the day after that, or after _that–_ how long were humans supposed to take to heal, compared to werewolves? Certainly not fast enough to make their escapade clean and unseen. With a wound like that, Ace himself would have been downed for at least a handful of days– and unable to walk for some of them. Dadan had warned him that humans were just a little flimsier, that their bones were more brittle and their skin thinner– just how _much_ did that mean for?

"_I'm just trying to stay alive," Sabo said, eyes down, voice quiet as if he wasn't entirely sure he even wanted Ace to hear, "We all are." _

They'd just have to make do, like always.

_At least,_ he reassured himself, eyeing Sabo's leg carefully, _I know how to wrap a proper bandage. _

—

They were both awake barely before dawn.

Ace barely slept in the first place. Not that he didn't try. He spent hours as still as possible. Aimlessly trying to just drift off only to get up what felt like every 5 minutes to pace in a new circle and settle right back down again. It was simply possible to relax. His ears were constantly twitching between Sabo's harsh, shallow breathing and the snores of the bandits out in the other rooms. He only really gave up once Sabo groaned, the pain shaking the human awake.

Immediately, Ace was on his feet. Paws melted to hands and he prodded carefully at the bandages, unable to help the small, instinctive whine in the back of his throat at how they had soaked through.

The leg twitched under his nose. Sabo didn't manage to move more than a centimeter before his body tellingly stiffened, expression tightening in pain. "...Ace?" Sabo murmured. The human looked even more exhausted than Ace felt. "W-where— Ace where _are_ we?" Shaking pale hands groped around the floor and Ace watched Sabo's eyes fly open as it clicked that he was _unarmed._ "_Ace?"_ He asked again, voice pitching in panic.

There was barely time to hesitate. (There was plenty of time. Why should _he_ have to answer? Why would he so easily give up his home and it's location to some _human—_) "You're in my den," Ace said briskly.

Blue eyes stared uncomprehending. Glazed with pain and confusion, Ace wasn't entirely sure if the human was even listening. Ace flushed hotly, snapping, "they would have found you if I left you!" The expression remained fixed on Sabo's face and Ace growled, turning away to pick instead at the meager first-aid kit he had swiped from Dadan's pantry in a fit of late-night restlessness. "Just— just shut up and let me fix the bandages, okay?!"

The reminder of last night was what finally kick-started Sabo's brain. Had him freezing, stony and silent as he remembered–

(blood, everywhere. Dark, dizzying, dirt under his fingernails and bone scratching wet against metal wrong wrong _wrong_ under his skin, _in him– keeping him pinned, keeping him still, keeping him __**caged–**_ _Ace– _they were after– _**Ace––**_)

In an _instant,_ Ace was choking on the stench of fear.

(Coupled with the still heady reek of blood, Ace's vision wavered with dark forest floor muddy with blood. Teeth clamped so _deep_ into pale flesh that the metal no longer gleamed. Sabo's _screaming_—)

Ace spun around, quickly pressing Sabo down against the floorboards just as the _idiot_ human reached for his leg. "_Don't you fucking dare!"_ He snarled.

(Vision still spinning. Stuffed with the hazy sight of Sabo's trembling. Desperate human hands slick with blood, frenzied pale fingers digging into his own wounds—)

"_Don't touch it! Don't _fucking _touch it, I'll _kill _you if you move!"_

Sabo just looked up at him, wide-eyed and frozen. His smell was replaced by cold shock and surprise, staring as Ace panted in front of him. He could feel his hands shaking. He could feel everything shaking– vibrating off and out of place, unable to stop.

(Blood everywhere. Ace could hardly believe so _much_ blood could be in a person. It took him hours to scrub off-– trying over and over with ears pressed back, trying and failing to pretend he wasn't glancing back towards Dadan's den. The scratches and welts had all healed by the time he had gotten back, but he could still feel the blood under his claws. Stuck in his fur, in the creases of his palms. Every sneaking look down only mocked him with how they continued to shake.)

_What am I doing?_

"...Don't touch it," Ace ordered, more quietly this time.

When he pulled back, the human didn't move. Blue eyes stayed pinned on him. Ace's chest felt tight with the weight of it, skin pulling foreign and wrong. "...I'm… I'm just going to check the damage," Sabo said slowly. The words fell awkwardly off his tongue, swollen and hesitant, as if he was testing them out as he spoke.

_Liar._

Ace didn't reply. He was still struggling to break through the afterimages of blood and fear, wholly weak and human fingers clawing at the dirt for purchase. The fear hadn't disappeared from the air, though it had faded. Filtered out in the face of Sabo's shock. "Ace?" Sabo asked carefully. Ace could only smell pain on him. Pain and blood, blocking out everything else. "Are you okay?"

The question _hurt_. Hurt in a way that was _stupid _and _selfish,_ that made Ace want to bury his face in his arms and not look back up. "I'm _fine,"_ he choked out. "I'll just— change the bandages. And then you can go home." He doubted Sabo wanted to be anywhere near him. Who would, human or not, after nearly losing a _leg_ over him? Over him, because of him, his _fault_— tears pricked his eyes and Ace ducked away, furious with himself. _Why am I so mad? Isn't this what I wanted...?_

(Sabo injured, Sabo hating him, Sabo _gone.)_

(Ace, alone in the forest with a useless pack that hated him.)

_(Please don't leave me.)_

"Ace, I..."

"_What?"_ Ace snapped. He couldn't help himself— the sudden fear rose up in his throat like magma, searing hot and choking. "Don't you want to go home? You can go and— and—" his claws bit into his palms. "—go and just. Do stupid _human_ things, and—"

He jumped when a hand slapped onto his arm. Sabo's face was twisted in pain, braced precariously on one hand and one shaking knee to reach ace. "Stop that," he said, voice bitten off in a mix of anger and agony, "You fucking _idiot,_ you goddamn _dog—"_

The insults weren't even registering past the sudden roar of _what are you doing._ "What the hell?!" Ace started. "What are you— no, lie back down your leg is practically _shredded_—"

"–and what, you think I can go back to the _terminal_ with a "shredded" leg?!"

Ace froze but Sabo just barreled right on. "Who do you think _did_ this to me, Ace?!" Ace couldn't help the inner mantra of _me, it was me, what are you talking about—_ "Bluejam's goddamn lackeys set that trap _specifically for us! _Even if I managed to get back to the terminal, they're all there and I'm _screwed_ if I can't fight or even run— And I'll be dead anyway because it's the fucking _terminal_—" his grip tightened almost painfully on Ace's wrist, knuckles white with exertion. "—I'll either die slowly of infection or I'll die slowly as a _slave,"_ Sabo finished numbly. "Please. Can I stay here for a bit?"

Ace couldn't help but stare. If Sabo had bothered to say anything else, it was utterly lost on the werewolf- Ace could barely think through the roaring buzz in his ears.

(The one that pulsed, throbbed, raced like his heart on a hunt. Beat out a pathetic _stay? _With every thump.)

(It was all he could focus on, and nothing he could comprehend.)

That hand loosened, Near imperceivable to Ace's cold nerves. He could see Sabo's lips move but hear none of it.

_Stay? _His brain still whispered, _he wants to stay?_

_Someone would still want to...?_

A large hand clapped down into Ace's shoulder and he jerked violently. Sabo's lips had pressed into a thin, white line, eyes huge and face pale and Ace turned.

"I'm not going to ask," Dadan said, "just this once."

Her eyes, when Ace followed them, were pinned to Sabo's leg as he slowly tried to pull it under him, carefully but quickly struggling backwards. There was something almost uncomfortably subdued in her gaze. Something knowing, _seeing_ in a way that Ace didn't understand. "If he stays, you're responsible for any blood on my floors, brat," she eventually huffed.

The boys watched her stomp back out with a remarkable lack of yelling. Ace was still gaping when he turned back to Sabo. The blond was completely frozen, one hand braced on the wall and the other on the floor; poised as if he was ready to launch himself to his feet at the slightest movement.

He looked almost naked, fingers straining subconsciously for his pipe.

"...She's not a werewolf," Sabo eventually said, and Ace's brain seemed to finally start working again.

"None of the bandits are," he managed. "Only Gramps is, an' me." He was pretty sure Gramps actually did offer, at some point— even if he couldn't remember it. But Dadan called werewolves filthy, and she clearly wasn't one now, so...

He carefully pushed down the tiny, whispered memory of her drunkenly muttering about protection and humanity. It didn't matter. She wasn't a werewolf, and she wasn't his pack.

"...let's just... fix your bandage," Ace said awkwardly. The blood that had already been soaking through the wrap had been jostled too much by Sabo's extra movement. If they didn't change it soon, there really would be blood smeared around that Ace would have to clean. "And then I'll go and find an extra blanket, or something."

He had to duck his head down, fiddling with the ratty old first aid box left on the floor instead of possibly facing whatever expression Sabo was making. The "thanks" was unavoidable anyway. Quiet, whispered. It still made Ace flush, the word chasing him out of the room.

Sabo slowly relaxed against the wall, a tiny grin quirking on his face.

* * *

once again, sorry ch 3 was posted so late. on the brightside ch 4 is now here enjoy lol

thank you for commenting on the last chapter! i spend much less time on FF compared to Ao3 so its nice to still see some reaction even if much less


	5. Progress

It was more than a little weird, to not be alone.

_That's probably true for both of us,_ Sabo admitted to himself, muffling his groan of pain into dense, dark fur as the werewolf helped him wobble out through their window. _Ace only has the bandits, and I only…_ he couldn't help the scowl that darkened his expression, nor manage to entirely hide how his scent must have soured, with how Ace whined in confusion.

"It's fine," he mumbled, "Don't stop, we gotta get out, before–" deeper in the house, they could hear the tell-tale creaking of floorboards and annoyed grumbling. "–Quick, _quick,_ just…!" Sabo yelped when Ace reared back, twisting awkwardly in order to catch a careful mouthful of Sabo's coat and just yanked him to sprawl over Ace's back. His hands fisted instinctively into a coal grey coat as claws scrabbled noisily against wood.

The door slammed open just as they both toppled to the dirt outside. _"You little––!"_ Dadan yelled. Sabo, still clinging to Ace's back, giggled helplessly. He could feel the muscles shifting under his cheek, heartbeat pounding under dark fur as Ace broke into a run. "Get back here, you damn _brats!"_

Ace's tongue lolled out of his mouth, panting loudly, and Sabo reared back through the pain just enough to wave goodbye. Leaves and twigs slapped him as Ace burst through the undergrowth, flowers and branches catching on his coat. He nearly lost his hat to the forest, if he didn't risk pulling a hand off Ace's fur to grab it. "Slow down!" He whispered, "I'm not as streamlined as you!" But he didn't tell Ace to stop. His voice was still pitched high and breathy, running off adrenaline and excitement so clear he could hear it in his own words.

They didn't stop until Dadan's voice faded out into the usual sounds of rustling leaves and birdsong.

Ace crouched down low, allowing Sabo time to slip off his back. He grumbled for it the whole way, but the moment his toes even skimmed the grass there was no hiding his wince of pain, nor the way his legs immediately folded under his weight. Ace tried to put him down as slowly as possible."W-wait," Sabo said. His brow furrowed in confusion. "Why am I sitting down? I thought we were going to get breakfast." He tried to sit up more fully, pressing weight on his leg, and Ace huffed in annoyance and lightly pressed his paw down on his good knee. A hesitant little laugh shuddered out of him when Ace pressed his nose to his hand trying to nudge him away and it was worth the embarrassment of wagging his tail when it made blue eyes light up in a hazy mirth.

"I never said we," Ace said. It didn't come out as gentle as he wanted. Sabo faltered and he winced, looking away and Ace cursed in his head, rushing to explain as something hot and uncomfortable bubbled up in him. "You're too injured to help me hunt. I'll catch us something myself. Just wait here and… Do human things, or whatever." The incredulous expression that gained him was enough to make him roll his eyes. "You really think you can take down a tiger like this? You can't walk!"

"I can! I'm not _dying!"_

"You don't even have your pipe! It's not like you have claws!"

It was was enough to have Sabo's jaw snapping shut. The blond was visibly uncomfortable with every little reminder that he was unarmed– there was no real way to guarantee his pipe was still where he left it in the Terminal. Hell, there was no real way to tell whether anything he hid was still there. Ace hadn't lived there like Sabo had, but he doubted someone hadn't already stumbled into whatever hide-out Sabo had created. As far as strength went, Ace far outstripped him at the moment.

Couldn't walk, couldn't fight. Moving his bad leg at all made Sabo's face spasm with barely restrained pain. If they had been equally matched before, he was essentially helpless now.

(They had been carefully avoid the "what-ifs" since Sabo woke up. Didn't say a word, when Ace helped him change the bandages with shaking hands. What they were supposed to do now. What would happen next. The unspoken questions of infection, of whether Sabo would even heal enough to run like he used to.)

(Sinews to shreds. Blood had never smelled so sickening, before.)

Sabo turned away. Finally sat back, carefully tucking his legs into his chest. "Fine," He snapped, "Once I heal I'll kick your ass."

Ace was surprised with how okay with that he was. He slowly relaxed, fighting not to smile. "Yeah, whatever. I'll be back soon."

He turned away, trotting into the trees to find a good scent trail to track.

_Maybe if I take long enough, he'll have found some of those cool "herbs" or something to make the meat taste better again. That'd be nice._

Sabo couldn't walk. He wouldn't be able to for a while, and knowing the bandits he'd have to pretty much rely on Ace to get food until he healed a little. He should really be more mad than he was, about that– but really, Ace was kind of… happy about it.

It felt nice, to provide for someone he actually cared about. As if he had a real pack.

_What the hell am I thinking?_

He shook it off, breaking into a run. A boar or two would be good. Afterward, Ace could show him the stream with the cleanest drinking water, and the cliff by the sea. Maybe they could find more fruit, if Sabo wasn't too tired. For a human, Sabo was… probably the best company he had ever had.

_...It really is nice._

* * *

The wound was starting to heal. The first few weeks more than a little disheartening for both of them, to see so little progress– Sabo's leg still bled heavily under very little pressure. Even where there weren't physical tears in the flesh, his skin was dark black and blue circling around his entire calf. Ace wasn't exactly someone of medical expertise but he didn't doubt the bruising went all the way through to the bone.

(With the way Sabo had been screaming, he was surprised that his leg didn't snap. Or sever. But he wasn't going to say that. Wasn't going to even think about it, not with the way the thought twisted his gut into tight, painful circles. Not with the way Sabo resolutely avoiding catching his eyes on the bandages. Not when they had plenty enough to be worried about already to waste time on more past possibilities.)

So far though, they were doing… okay. Dadan had given Sabo a sip of alcohol that smelled more than a little nasty, and then signaled for a bandit to stitch him up. Sabo was too distracted to notice and Ace would never tell him about how he had hovered over him, glaring everyone down until the last stitch had been made. He didn't know whether Sabo had ever needed to get stitches before, but Dadan had warned him not to let them break and Ace was going to take that seriously.

Besides that, it was pretty simple. Keep dry, keep clean. Ace knew well enough how to wrap a bandage, and as long as Dadan kept leaving them more (He always woke up the moment she entered the room. If she wouldn't bring it up, neither would he. He owed her that much) Sabo would be fine.

Probably.

He was still struggling to move around freely. Ace didn't have to carry him anymore, at least, though he still more often than not was forced to heavily lean into the werewolf's side. Ace had become used to moving at a very slow trot and it took a bit of annoyed prodding now to remind him he could go a little faster. Having any progress at all was good, was really good– they had both admittedly gotten too excited when a bandage change turned to chaos after Ace realized skin was regrowing shallowly over the punctures. Every day before that, something as small as not bleeding through the bandages was a victory.

(Neither of them would mention the strained relief every time they failed to find a sign of infection. They had spent more than one day obsessively harvesting as many of the berries Sabo mentioned to fight infection as they could, despite having an actual medical kit and disinfectant ready.)

Even once Sabo could join Ace on hunts, after sneaking into the Terminal for a new pipe (and finding his old one, to his pleasure,) they still shared every meal. It was easier to just share their kills. Definitely not worth the useless pride of competition and spite.

(That wasn't the truth though. Ace just liked having someone there, beside him. Food did taste better when you ate it with someone– especially when there was more than enough, and the company was his age, and happy to see him, and–)

Ace froze when Sabo thrust a hand out in front of him. He was already moving to swat it away before pausing again as Sabo turned wide eyes on him, lips pursed tightly.

(He last saw that expression over a month ago. He saw it nearly the same, without the blanket of confusion over the old, more primal fear. Rigid posture and keen glare— Sabo would make a good wolf.)

"Are there supposed to be other people who come here?" He asked in a low whisper, and Ace took a wary sniff—

"I can hear you brats!"

Ace _shrieked._ Grabbed Sabo and flung them both out of the way just as Garp crashed through the undergrowth like a freight train. He was already rushing to shove Sabo further under a broad-leafed bush even as he turned to face Garp. "You shitty old man," he snarled. Tail high, ears tall, arms out— anything to distract the older werewolf from where he frantically nudged at his human with his foot. "What the hell are you _thinking?!"_

His outrage only earned him a slightly maniacal bought of laughter, gruff and unfairly foreboding. The marine loomed over him without even trying. "What, I can't come and show affection to my grandson?!" Behind Ace, Sabo stumbled and braced himself, snapping branches under his weight as he went and Garp went still.

Mirth immediately halted, his nose rose to the air. "...Ace," He started. Ace jolted, unsettled by the uncharacteristic seriousness of the old man's tone. "Why do I smell blood?"

It wasn't a good sign. It was a terrifying, actually. The adrenaline of being found out was quick and heated, pulsing like a wildfire under Ace's skin, and yet–

_"The stitches!"_ He gasped. Garp was immediately forgotten in favor of scrambling under the brush. Sabo had barely moved more than an inch. Curled up and face pulled tight with pain, sweat dripping off his face and teeth buried in his lip– Ace's hands shook when he carefully pulled pale hands away from the wound. "Goddammit, did they break?_ Sabo, did they break?!" _There was still a roll, in his back pocket. He always kept them on hand now, just in case. There was another one tucked into the lens of Sabo's goggles, against his hat, and one more he had snuck into the blond's inner pockets when he had passed out from pain over a week ago and never found.

He had no qualms about using his claws to slice the fabric clean off him. It was an easy motion by that point, quickly revealing marks still sluggishly bleeding– but no broken stitches. Sabo hissed through his teeth but didn't fight him, all too used to Ace's slightly rudimentary methods by that point. There wasn't much he was about to do over trying to breathe through the pain, eyes squeezed tightly shut and skin sickly pale.

It was remarkably silent when he slumped forward, breathing out slowly.

Ace's heart was still pounding a little too hard to do more than flinch when Garp kneeled heavily beside him.

"What happened?" He asked quietly. For a long moment, his question went unanswered by both boys. Even with his eyes pinned to the dirt, Ace could see Sabo straining to scoot further away. Ace wasn't really… ready to say anything either. Garp only shifted to sit more comfortably on the ground, his own tail untucked from his pants still behind him and ears high.

There was no escaping that keen stare. Nor was there a chance of ignoring an order from an alpha, whether Ace truly considered Garp pack or not anymore. "...The humans down in the Terminal started setting traps," He mumbled.

He didn't have to look up. The air itself seemed to sting with the stench that suddenly permeated from the older werewolf.

"I see."

A cold sweat broke over the nape of Ace's neck. He physically couldn't bring himself to look up even though he knew none of Garp's tone was directed at him. His body was instinctively reacting, pressing his ears back and eyes down. Sabo, even without the intricacies known to Ace through his own enhanced senses, smelled like he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Ace's head got pushed down under a rough palm, more gentle than he had experienced in… in a long time. He finally managed to look up. Garp smiled at him, rubbing a bit too harshly at the base of his ears– "Stay with Dadan for today, boys, Your Grandpa is going to go meet some new friends."

Both of them were left gaping as he stood up to leave. Sabo didn't even flinch when the older man leaned forward to pat his head, nearly pushing him off balance in the process.

He hummed as he went, cheerfully prancing away into the trees. Ace wasn't fooled enough to miss the tense line of his shoulders, nor the twitch in his hands– but neither he nor Sabo were able to speak a word until Garp was well out of sight.

"You have a grandpa?" Sabo eventually choked out.

"Yeah." How was he supposed to explain this. _Damn Garp and his shitty adoption tendencies–_ "...I think you do too, now."

* * *

happy thanksgiving yall. im still very sick and exhausted and honestly forgot to post this here after posting it to ao3 first ! as one does.. professionalism at its finest, demonstrated through an unedited werewolf fic...


	6. Edging Into Something Softer

so i once again forgot to cross-post onto here after posting on Ao3! my bad. sorry for the wait, finals week was rough

* * *

They were grounded. That was Sabo's best word to describe... whatever their current situation was. Garp had plucked them up that first day and all but tossed them inside Dadan's hut, and that was that.

Sabo honestly hadn't been too mad. It wasn't as if he could run around anyway— though the... insistence Garp had when talking to him was… certainly something.

_("You're my grandson now," the wolf barked, "I better not catch you calling me shitty old man like Ace does! I'm your grandpa, don't you forget it brat!" _

_In and out, just like that. Sabo didn't even get the second of breath to think about responding. He was just left blinking, staring at the space Garp had Just vacated before storming out and away. "But I— he hasn't— I've never even told him my name...?" _

_Ace had just snorted, tugging him down and shifting to curl around his back. "Do you think that'll _stop _him?"_

"_Well..." Sabo doubted his own parents even knew his name, sometimes. He knew for sure that his grandparents couldn't be bothered to care. No aunts, no uncles, no challenges to the family fortune— "yeah, kinda." _

"_Well, better figure it out quick.")_

Garp refused to tell them anything. He was barely around in the first place. Despite apparently returning to the Bandit's den for the night, Ace nor Sabo ever actually saw him. Ace said he could smell him, and Sabo didn't doubt that, but…

Even without the nose of a werewolf, Sabo could smell the blood. He was a little sick hoping Garp actually caught Bluejam.

Since the old man had come they had pretty much been jailed. Garp took care of a lot of the hunting, surprisingly, and would growl at them if they took a single step past the clearing around the hut–– Ace had gotten cuffed the moment Garp smelled him past the treeline. Sabo was… kind of okay with that. The restlessness wasn't easy, or the frustration, but Dadan was much meeker with the older werewolf around and Sabo couldn't move around that much anyway to be sprinting through the forest.

...But it had been a week, and Ace was starting to look like he was going to chew off his skin if he was stuck indoors a moment longer. "I need to go outside," He snapped, voice hinging on a whine. "The full moon is coming soon, and I need to run. I need to go _out." _

Sabo huffed, drawing his legs closer to himself. The thought of the full moon made his heart race, just a little– but none of his worry showed on his face. It wouldn't be the first full moon he had spent with Ace, though that was more of an overstatement if anything– he had slept clean through it. Hadn't even known that night was the full moon; he had woken the next day in a fevered panic when he saw Ace, dirty and scuffed, curled up and dead asleep against his side. He had spent the new moon sluggish and utterly unhelpful in answering Sabo's nervous questions.

Ace suddenly shot upright, ears trained high and alert.

Sabo jerked. Eyes wide, he snapped his head towards the door where Ace continued to stare, confused and wary–

"–_me down! I don't want to–" _

The door slammed open, making them both jump. Dadan shrieked "_Goddammit!" _as a broad hand smacked against the edge, leaving a dark bloodstain across the grains. It went completely ignored as Garp hauled himself back into the hut, a child squirming under his other arm. "Of course, brat," he huffed, "You're too young to ignore the pull of the moon yet!"

Ace and Sabo blinked up at him in shock. Garp just casually crossed the room and sat down in front of them, plopping the random kid in his lap with a level of ignorance nonchalance Sabo could only dream of. The boy was growling loudly, swatting at Garp's hand pressing his straw-hatted head down into an awkward bow as he reached for the basin of water Ace had left out from that morning redressing Sabo's leg. "Once you're older, you'll be able to control it more. Go on and run, I've taken care of the _trash _anyway."

Garp grinned, wide and full of sharp fangs, and Sabo cringed inwardly at the stink of blood. "Just don't go near the Terminal," He cackled.

Ace hadn't moved. Sabo was fairly sure he hadn't actually heard what Garp had even said (or any of its implications. Sabo was pointedly trying to ignore the blood still dripping off the older werewolf's knuckles. Were all werewolves like this, or was Ace's family just really messy?) "_Who the hell is that?!" _He finally blurted out.

Garp's eyes were practically twinkling. It made Sabo distinctly… uncomfortable. "This is your brother!" He crowed, jostling the boy trying to escape him. "My _other _grandson– _Luffy! _Stop being such a pup and say hi!"

His hand finally lifted and Sabo could feel it when Ace physically recoiled. A low growl rumbled out of his chest the moment huge brown eyes met his, fluffy dark-furred ears folded over his hair from under the brim of his hat. "Hi," He chirped. Despite his predicament, he still raised a tiny hand and waved it excitedly.

Immediately, Ace's posture shifted from shocked to hostile.

_Oh, _Sabo realized, _Oh boy. _

"_Another _grandson?" Ace hissed. "Why do you keep grabbing random kids?! Wasn't _two _already too much?!"

Garp chortled loudly, throwing his head back with the force of it. "_Another?! _This one is my _flesh and blood, _brat! He'll be staying here from now on, so be good friends!" He nudged Luffy out of his lap, sending the pup spilling off his knee and onto the floor before them with a yip.

"_What?" _Ace sputtered at the same time Luffy squeaked out a "_Really?!"_

…_.I…. don't want to be involved in this, I think. _Sabo carefully sat back and folded his hands in his lap.

"_Why?!" _Ace snarled. "He's just a little kid–"

"_You're _just a little kid too–"

"–I'm not a damn _babysitter! _He's just a _puppy, _he'll either be killed or get us killed!"

"That's not true!" Luffy yipped, fur standing on end. He had finally pushed himself to his feet, ears flat and tail high even when faced with Ace's withering glare. "I'm strong! I'm the best hunter in Fuschia!"

Ace sneered. Both werewolves seemed to have stopped paying attention to anything more than each other. "Oh yeah?! _Prove it!" _

_Oh, I don't like that tone. _That tone meant bad decisions, like picking a fistfight in an adult bar. Or arson. Sabo quickly started scooting farther out of range. His yelp, when Garp scooped him up and carried him a ways back, went completely unnoticed by the two. Including Garp. The older man didn't do more than ruffle his hair.

"Gum gum..." the pup reared back, his fist flying far past what it should have and both Ace and Sabo's eyes bulged. "Pist—!" It hit a tree.

They were all left watching, brows high, as it bounced off said tree. Hit another tree. Rebounded back—

"Uh," Sabo started, blinking, and suddenly Luffy was whining loudly, limbs tangled around three different trees at once.

"That..." Ace straightened. For a moment, none of them actually managed to say anything. If Luffy hadn't been whimpering, and Garp not laughing, the clearing would have been stiflingly silent. "...that's so stupid. Are you kidding?"

Immediately, Luffy's head shot up. "It's not stupid!" He shouted. The glare of a 6-year-old was magically even less intimidating when said pup was tied to a tree by himself. "When I get free I'll show you, and you'll have to say that I'm the pack alpha!"

Ace's ears shot down flat to his head, tail raising high and bristling, and Sabo renewed his squirming to be put down. "_Pack Alpha?" _He snarled. "A puppy like _you? _Yeah right! Not in a hundred years—" Garp finally seemed to get the hint, setting Sabo down when he pressed meanly into the nerves on his hand (he didn't fool himself, nothing he did could hope to even budge Garp– but it got his attention, at least, and got Sabo got on the ground) he was a little too far— Sabo scooped his pipe off the dirt and carefully hobbled forward. "—and you're not even a part of our pack! We don't even— we're _lone wolves! _We don't have—" he paused, looking up as Sabo finally reached him. Startled out of his rant, when a pale hand touched his arm.

Dark eyes froze on Sabo's face. For a short moment, the werewolf looked more taken off guard than he had in months. "We... we don't..." those eyes flickered down. Caught on Sabo's hand, on his arm. On his leg still awkwardly lifted off the ground, barely braced by his white-knuckled grip on his pipe.

"...N...nevermind," Ace finally trailed off.

Sabo frowned at him, confused, but ultimately just shook it off. It was just another thing Ace was held up on— if the other boy wanted him to know, then he'd tell him. "Come on," he said, "We should probably get him down." He didn't know Luffy, and wasn't really interested in knowing him— but he wasn't cruel.

...and he doubted Garp would bother. The older man was already gone. Sabo hadn't even noticed him walk off, somehow.

Surprisingly, Ace didn't snap at him. (He had been doing so less and less since Sabo was first injured— but it was still a little weird to see the hot-tempered werewolf just cross his arms and look away.) "He'll be fine," he murmured. It was almost to himself, but Sabo heard it regardless. "We shouldn' hafta deal with such a brat."

_You're still a brat, and I have to deal with you daily. _Sabo raised a brow.

None of it passed his lips, but Ace flushed scarlet anyway. "_Fine," _he snapped, "stop looking at me like that! We'll get him down."

Sabo beamed. He started for Luffy, leaning heavily on his makeshift cane— only to jerk back to a halt as Ace grabbed onto the back of his coat. When he looked back, the other still wasn't meeting his eyes. His blush now ran down his shirt. "I'll get him down," he amended. "Sit back down before you trip, or do something else even stupider."

"As if it's ever me doing something stupid," Sabo retorted, rolling his eyes, but he obligingly sat down. His leg was beginning to throb a little too much, after all. It had nothing to do with how nice it made him feel, to have someone who cared about him. Not at all.

Luffy shrieked, high pitched and terrified, and Sabo sighed. "_Gently, _Ace!"

* * *

Ace threw himself past the last of the riverbed and into the undergrowth, and thought, not for the first time, that he shouldn't have listened to Sabo.

"He's _annoying," _he complained under his breath. "Whiny and clingy and stupid." He didn't want a puppy following him. He didn't want _anyone _following him— and yet every single day, no matter what he did, Luffy kept chasing after his scent like a police hound. All that had been stopping him from finding their hide-out was the river. Ace refused to even let Sabo come near the bandit den in case he wouldn't be able to get them both out before Luffy caught up. "Tiny, stubborn, idiot, rubber brained _pup—" _

A rock hit the dirt near his paws and Ace yelped, shifting to stand on his feet. "What was that for?!" He said.

High above him, Sabo swung his feet at the edge of their canopy den. "Stop complaining," he yelled down.

"You couldn't even _hear _me!"

Another rock. "I don't need fuzzy ears to know you're complaining again!" _Oh, now that isn't fair. _"Stop glaring at me and get up here, Furball!" The head of blond hair vanished for a moment over the edge, coming back to roll their makeshift rope ladder down.

"I'll show you furball," Ace huffed under his breath, and carefully began to climb his way up. "See if I help you when _you _get stuck with him!" Sabo had the nerve to wait for him to climb up onto the main platform before rolling his eyes. "S-stop making that face!"

Sabo just hummed, completely ignoring Ace in favor of returning to the ragged old notebook in his lap. "You know," he began, "I've been thinking—"

"Oh _no." _

_Thwack. _"Shut up!" Sabo laughed through his hiss, unable to help his reaction from the betrayed expression Ace gave his notebook. "As if you _ever _think. But I really was— and..." Ace went quiet as Sabo frowned, face becoming seriously contemplative. "...you know I can read, even though we don't have a lot of books. But a lot of them are about pirates— I know we had to deal with Bluejam, but I just, I can't help but want—"

"Spit it out," Ace snapped, confused by his anxiety. Sabo didn't even move to hit him for that one, just shaking his head as if trying to throw off water droplets.

"—wouldn't it be nice?" He asked, quietly, eyes distant, "...to be that free?"

For a long moment, neither of them said anything. Ace could hear his heart beating in his ears. Could faintly hear it whispering, breathless—

_He thinks to be a pirate is freedom?_

Sabo glanced up at him and Ace watched his blue eyes go wide. More flustered than ever, he flailed his hands frantically. "N-not that I— I'm—! I don't know! Stop looking at me like that! I just—"

"I'm not _mad," _Ace choked out. How could he be? He couldn't even muster up annoyance, couldn't even pretend to have any left in the face of the idea that piracy could ever be more than a poisonous legacy. Sabo fell silent, staring at him curiously. His ears flattened. "I'm not. It's— it's a good point, I guess."

"...even after Bluejam?" Sabo asked cautiously. He startled when Ace hung his head and laughed, the sound thin and strained.

_He thinks I hate pirates because of Bluejam, _he thought, almost hysterical with it— _he thinks one Baby Bad was enough to make me— _"my dad was Gold Roger," he blurted out.

Immediate regret.

Ace's body went cold and searing hot all at once— like a bomb had gone off in his chest the moment he had spoken. _What the fuck, _he wanted to scream, _what the fuck, why the fuck did— I have to get out of here, Sabo will never want to— _He looked up.

Sabo's eyes were practically _glittering. _

"The _king of pirates _was a _werewolf _?!" He shrieked. "How did I never know that?!"

_What. _

He wasn't finished. Sabo leaped up as best he could, balancing on wobbly knees before Ace could stop him. "The pirate king was a _werewolf," _he breathed, "a _werewolf! _Ace, how did— he must have kept it a secret, I can't believe the _implications _of—"

Ace couldn't even hear him anymore. Disbelief roared through him like a hurricane, blowing his foundations off its roots. He was left frozen in its wake. Drowning under the rapidly dawning realization of— " _That's _what you care about?" He asked, bewildered.

Sabo looked scandalized he'd even asked. "He was a fucking _werewolf _Ace what the hell are you talking about?! How did _no one know _the fucking _pirate king was an entire werewolf?!" _

How long had he lived with it? Ace wasn't even a teenager, and yet it felt like forever– felt like he had been born under the weight of his blood, of his _knowing. _The shock, the disbelief, the rage, the pain, the _fear—_

Ace stared at his friend. His only friend, the only person he had ever _chosen _and been _chosen back by _—

"You're—" his throat tightened, choking and hot. "That's— _thank you." _

Sabo just shot him a sideways glance, elbow-deep in their random trash and completely oblivious to Ace's inner turmoil. "What the hell are you thanking _me _for? Hurry up and tell me how it works! You gotta know something, right? I have to write this down, that's _fascinating—_where is my pen––" Ace just sat there and stared, unmoving on the ragged floorboards.

(His chest was so _warm. _He was almost worried it would fold and burst into fireflies if he budged an inch.)

He didn't move until Sabo hurt himself trying to throw his notebook at him.

* * *

Luffy wasn't going to give up. Sabo barely needed to have met Garp to know that. It was obvious just in the set of the kid's shoulders, the glint in his eyes–

–the fact that Luffy had been resolutely chasing both him and Ace down through the forest every chance he got––

"You're not going to keep up," He hollered behind him. Even bogged down by his leg he was still older than Luffy. Ace had quietly worked him back up to something functioning– with a leg that needed just a bit of a brace and not too much work to stay together. It had stopped breaking skin at every move weeks ago. Being human wasn't going to be enough to a tamper on his skills, to let just a puppy of a werewolf catch him. "Give up!"

"No!" Branches snapped behind him. Sabo threw himself to the side just in time to avoid a rubbery set of jaws.

His eye twitched. Dealing with a second werewolf, even if a kid, who also had a _devil fruit _of all things, was _exhausting _. Exhausting and weird. The first time they met was barely a warning for the weirdness Sabo had to deal with now. On the bright side, it was a nice sort of easy way to work his body harder in increments.

Still, it was getting close to lunchtime, and he could feel the strain in his leg beginning to pulse into something left manageable. He needed to take a break, catch something to eat– maybe bring some extra back to the treehouse if he could. It would all be faster if he wasn't rampaging through the foliage with the equivalent of a fuzzy hurricane on his heels. Luffy may be smaller and weaker than him, but his much sharper nose and ears meant Sabo had to really work to lose him. He wouldn't be able to hunt if he used up all his energy running.

If this kept up, Sabo wouldn't be surprised if he ended up running forever. He was starting to think he would just be better off if he gave up– it was clear Luffy wasn't going to.

_What's the harm, besides Ace being mad? Ace is always mad. _

Sabo skid to a halt.

Almost instantly, Luffy's body nearly catapulted itself right into his spine. It was only a quick sidestep that made him crash into a bush instead of his fragile human bones– rising spitting dirt and covered in leaves. Huge brown eyes swung up and narrowed on Sabo with the intensity of a shark smelling blood.

"I caught you!" He roared, jumping back to his rapidly shifting human feet, and launched himself at Sabo with claws thankfully wicked away. Sabo just let it happen. It wasn't the first time he had let himself be caught, and the feeling of rubbery limbs extending to coil around his entire midriff was slowly becoming less and less alarming. He was more weirded out by how Luffy saw fit to rub what seemed like every bit of his face on him. "I-I actually caught you!"

"Yeah, great." Pulling on the other's cheek didn't manage to do more than stretch his face out, not dislodging him off Sabo in the slightest. "Cool. if you let me go, I'll let you hunt with me?" It would keep him busy, at least–

Sabo blinked, caught off guard as Luffy's eyes practically _glowed _right in front of his face. "_Really?!" _He yipped. "You'll hunt with me?!" His tail was beating so hard Sabo swore he'd break something. Was that possible? He'd have to ask Ace, though Ace never really wagged his tail much, and not very hard– "Uh,"

"We can eat together like we're supposed to," Luffy rambled on, "and I'll– I'll even share meat with you, if you really wanna, and we can–!"

"Um," Oh, Luffy wasn't touching him anymore. He sure left dark fur sticking up all over Sabo's clothes though, "S-sure, I guess?" A last beaming smile was slingshot his way, almost making Sabo trip over his boots, and then Luffy was on all fours and furry again.

_This is. This is fine. _"Lead the way, you're the werewolf here." If possible, that made him smile even more. Maybe Sabo was getting better at reading wolf body language than he thought.

(Maybe. Luffy was so excited his entire body was wiggling in place. Sabo was starting to think he'd vibrate straight out of his fur if he could.)

"Let's go, let's go, _let's go, _I'm _hungry _and I can smell a boar–" Luffy whined, pawing at the ground, and Sabo quickly moved to leap after him as the wolf launched himself back into the trees.

_Ace is going to be pissed, _he thought idly, dodging a low hanging branch as he plucked at the tufts of fur still plastered all over his coat, _But hey, no problem with indulging Luffy every so often _.

It wasn't doing any harm. He wasn't hurting anyone by letting Luffy stick a little closer to eat a meal with him. Ace might be a little mad about it, but it wasn't as if Sabo planned on picking Luffy up by the scruff and bringing him home– he'd get his food, and then while the other was distracted with his share he'd sneak back to the treehouse.

He kept his eyes carefully trained forward, locked onto the now familiar dark silhouette Luffy cut against the vegetation. Never tripping once. His injuries were improving– the scar was pink and ugly like raw flesh, but he was no longer bleeding and breaking. Even several feet ahead, with his head start, Sabo could see the happy rise of Luffy's tail. The perk of his ears, the happy loll of his tongue like a harmless pup instead of a dangerous wolf–

Sabo let himself smile. Just a little; quiet and unnoticed.

_He's not so bad, I guess._

* * *

one more chapter before we actually get to the parts i started this entire fic for ;)


	7. Begrudging

Sabo was never as stubborn as Ace could be. Or even as stubborn as _Luffy_ could be, apparently–

"You smell like him," Ace said for the hundredth time.

–But this was ridiculous.

They hadn't moved from the treehouse since Sabo got back. He had expected some lashing out, of course. Being caught out about Luffy was inevitable and he should have guessed the werewolf would be able to smell the puppy on Sabo's clothes, after he had done his best to rub himself all over Sabo. He had barely made it a foot into the clearing before Ace had grabbed him and dragged him up into their den.

It was almost impressive. _Almost;_ and Sabo wasn't about to tell Ace that and encourage… this. He couldn't see the sun, from within the treehouse, but he was certain they had already spent at least an hour on the crummy boards of their den.

A whole hour, with Ace just aggressively _nuzzling_ Sabo of all things. He had curled around Sabo in his wolf form before they even touched the ground and refused to let him up, growling and nipping at his sleeves whenever he tried. He definitely tried. They hadn't even eaten yet, and Sabo was seriously starting to get hungry. All the meat he took back when he left Luffy was still outside and if Ace didn't let him up it was eventually going to be stolen, scented territory or not.

(Maybe by Luffy. His nose was certainly good enough to track down meat, even if Sabo walked through a river, and he wasn't sure he was ready to have the puppy know where they slept.)

"_You smell like him," _Ace whined, distressed, and Sabo sighed. "You're not supposed to smell like him! You're _mine!_ _I_ claimed you, and–"

"_I get it,_ you're my best friend," Sabo cut in, exasperated. "It's not like I invited him to live with us! It's just easier to let him join instead of having him chase me all over the place all the time." Barely, but it was. Luffy became less of a problem, but in turn, _Ace_ became a problem. It had gotten to the point that Sabo would enter the treehouse and brace himself for a mass of werewolf on top of him and gross werewolf breath the moment he saw Ace's nose twitching. Trying to nudge him off didn't exactly do much but make Ace whine at him, and one lovely evening almost put Ace's teeth through his hand.

(Almost. Almost is the keyword, considering Sabo's thumb had accidentally jabbed itself right into a grey eye and Ace's instinctual snap had only led to Sabo staring as Ace froze with his teeth just barely poking into his palm before backing off and going silent for hours. All without getting off him. What a drama queen. How was Sabo ever supposed to take werewolves seriously again? If vampires were real too and just as finicky and anal he was losing all respect for mythology as a whole.)

Not that Sabo even understood whatever weird need Ace had for him to smell like him. Maybe Sabo didn't want to smell like dirty dog all the time– but Ace never had any problem when he went and bathed in any of the streams, nor washed his clothes.

He was just at a loss. Nothing new. Sabo was starting to just accept that he'd never understand whatever unspoken social nuances werewolves followed. Not when his only sources included a maniacal marine, a puppy, and an emotionally stunted best friend.

Ace pouted. Actually looked Sabo in the eye and _pouted_. There was an entire werewolf, trying his damned best to cover Sabo in his fur, and it was pouting at him. "Can't you just avoid him," Ace groaned. His eyes suddenly narrowed and Sabo cut off his giggle with a huff when a wet nose pressed cold and wet to his calf. "Your leg isn't bothering you again, is it? I can take over hunting for a few days, if–"

"I'm _fine_."

Hurt, huge grey eyes. Dark fluffy ears pressed down. "Then what's the _problem_," Ace asked, and Sabo wondered whether he'd get a nip for rolling his eyes.

"The problem," Sabo said, finally making headway in shoving Ace off him, "is that I can't win either way! What's the big deal with how I smell? Does he just smell bad or something?" _Why does any of this matter? Why do you hate Luffy so much? Why do you really want me to stay away from him?_

_Why do you care so much?_

"I just don't get it," Sabo finished helplessly. He didn't mean to sound hurt, hadn't even noticed how hurt he was until his voice cracked out of him. "...and you're not exactly explaining anything to me."

Waiting never worked. Watching never work. Ace never told him how he felt about things, and Sabo was starting to think maybe even he didn't know himself. If being patient and being passive wasn't going to work, maybe outright asking would. At the very least, it'd get the both of them to stop acting like there wasn't anything off–

"Because you're _my_ pack," Ace said, desperate and furious and panicked, "my pack, my friend! it's– It's not like I _have_ anyone else. Gramps is never here, and you _know_ Dadan hates us! Hates _me_!" He paused for a moment. A long whine escaped him, choked and overwhelmingly _sad_ even to Sabo's ears. "I- I don't want you to think he's _better_."

Sabo just gaped at him. What else was he supposed to do, when his only friend declared that— that he, he's— "you think of me as part of your pack?" He asked, befuddled. "But I'm not— I'm—"

"So what if you're human?! That doesn't— I don't _care_ about that," Ace abruptly looked even more scared, his ears smooshing down until almost invisible against his hair. His eyes were so wide when they turned to sabo. "Do you— do you think I _hate_ you?" He asked, voice pitched oddly. "Do you think we can't be friends because I'm a werewolf and you're a human? Do you think that _because of Roger—"_

_This got out of hand too quickly. Far too quickly, far, far too quickly_— "_No!"_ Sabo shouted. Ace jerked in place and Sabo startled to realize he had grabbed him. His hands were painfully tight on the other's shoulders. "Of course not! Who do you think I am?! I don't care that I'm a human! I don't care that you're a werewolf, or that the pirate king was your dad, or that— that— _I—"_ this was impossible. Sabo couldn't do this. Did Ace really hate himself so much? How hadn't he _noticed_— "We _want_ to be pirates don't we?!"

It was a segue. It was a distraction. It was enough to make Ace stare at him. "W-What?" But it wasn't enough to get his point across.

Sabo buried his hands into that dark fur and pulled until Ace was stumbling, all paws and fur and claws snagging into Sabo's shorts, into his lap. "We wanna be free," he mumbled into his coat. This close, he could feel Ace's heartbeat pounding against his arms, his cheek. "Aren't pirates the freest? And they can be humans, or werewolves, or vampires, or—"

"Vampires aren't real," Ace muttered, and Sabo very carefully did not cuff him for it. The werewolf sounded so much calmer, suddenly. Drained, but calm. Quiet. Manageable. As if being being touched was proof enough that Sabo was telling the truth. "At least, I think so."

(As if just being touched told Ace everything he needed, because why else would someone willingly lower themselves to touching him?)

It didn't matter. Ace just needed to understand that it didn't— who _cared_ if—

"_I get it,"_ Ace whispered. That furry head turned, wet, cold snout perishing against Sabo's neck as Ace shifted to settle more comfortably. Sabo doubted it helped to be practically strangled to death by a hug, but it was the thought that counted and it wasn't as if Ace wasn't _heavy_— "I... I get it. It shouldn't matter what we are. Neither of us. We're pack, and we'll be pirates, and... and we'll be free. The rest isn't important."

"Even if Luffy joins us?"

A huff. But not a bad huff, not an "_I won't talk to you for days"_ huff. Just a huff. "...Even if that annoying pup joins us."

Sabo smiled. He couldn't wait to tell Luffy.

* * *

A puppy was nipping at Ace's heels. A whole puppy. A tiny, baby werewolf.

...and Ace wasn't pulling away.

Or well, not anymore. He did the first times, and snapped at Luffy more than once– not that the pup withered even the slightest bit at Ace's warning snarl (and what kind of werewolf got excited to be _threatened?)_ – but Sabo had cuffed him for it on the fourth time.

Call Ace a coward, but he wasn't about to turn and snap at Sabo too after their… talk. He was barely managing to walk alongside the other without feeling so embarrassed he started sprinting into the distance.

"What will we do?!" Luffy yipped. He was far too close, practically wrapping his neck around Ace's. "Can we go hunt?! We could hunt!" Ace huffed and nudged at him, watching dismissively as he tumbled head over paws and got tangled in his limbs. Sabo side-eyed him for it, but Luffy just wiggled happily back into place and picked right up where he left off.

(He'll happily allow that as long as it meant Sabo wouldn't scold him for it. How was Ace supposed to be the alpha of his pack if Luffy constantly saw him being yelled at? It was unbecoming. The pup had already tried to challenge him once, tried to scent mark _his_ pack and steal him away from him. Ace wasn't about to allow any more opportunities for the idiot to think he could squirm his way through any perceived gaps.)

Luffy whined, rolling onto his back and wiggling against the dirt. He really was so squirmy. As if his body produced so much energy it was just overflowing. "I'm _hungry,"_ he whined.

Ace just rolled his eyes. _Why did I go along with this again?_ "Fine, whatever. Just don't get in our way." Immediately, wide eyes practically sparkled his way.

"Really?!"

Sabo's fingers pressed into his fur. When he looked up, his friend was smiling at him.

"_Good job," _he whispered, and _excuse me, _Ace was not some— _ohh,_ nails just barely digging into the thick fur at the base of his ears— _Right. This is why I went along with it._ Even when Sabo turned to address Luffy, that wonderful scratching didn't stop. It kept him from getting too irritated, even if he probably looked stupid melting into it. "We can go hunt, Luffy. Can you pick up a scent?"

Immediately, the boy perked up, ears and tail tall. "I can," he promised. "Just watch! I'll find the biggest boar, or a tiger, and I'll take it down myself—!" He yipped when Ace reached out, bowling him over with his paw. Sabo stopped scratching him for it, but Ace didn't get yelled at, so it was still a win.

"No tigers." There it was. Ace's least favorite no-nonsense tone. But not pointed at him. It was beautiful. "They're too strong."

"I can take them!"

"No tigers."

"But—"

"Nope."

Luffy huffed, ears dropping but Ace was just happy to see him give up. It might have been funny, maybe, to watch such a tiny puppy get swatted aside by a massive tiger, but...

He really was tiny. Luffy would be more than swatted aside. No amount of rubber devil fruits and accelerated healing would stop those massive claws from tearing him in two. Ace felt his lips curl up into a snarl and instantly clamped down on it, not liking how his body was reacting without his permission.

Whether he liked Luffy or not, the image of a puppy, of a _child_ smeared across the dirt wasn't _funny._

Especially not one just trying to prove himself. Ace could understand that. Maybe he wasn't good at showing how he felt, or even good at figuring out _what_ he felt– but he had seen that same desperation plenty of times. In his face, when he looked down into streams and puddles, in the jerky pull of his body towards things he couldn't recognize; hell, even in Sabo.

They all knew desperation. Ace wasn't going to snap at his mirror reflection, no matter how much he hated it.

Luffy then caught a scent trail and catapulted himself forward so fast that half his body didn't get the memo in time. Ace wondered if this was going to be his life. A pack consisting of one human, and a puppy made of rubber and probably no brain cells.

(An improvement.)

* * *

Welcome back! short chapter. next will be longer as i get back into the actual reason this story was written. after. 7 entire chapters i didnt intend to write. also its been so long i honestly barely recount how review replying works on FF, should i just answer anons in end notes? who knows. here you go, reminder that wror hopefully updating this month!


	8. Twice Bitten

No matter what Sabo said, it was still rough on Ace to give up his territory. He knew he wasn't really "giving" anything up. The mountains may be the bandits, but the clearing? Their treehouse den? That was _his._ His and Sabo's, and Luffy could never take that from them.

(Luffy couldn't take Sabo, because he was clearly still _here._ Still with Ace, living in their den and sharing his food. If Sabo didn't want Ace– well. Ace wasn't sure what he'd do if Sabo figured out he didn't want Ace either, but for now he could be comforted with the idea that Sabo wouldn't hide it when he _did_ realize.)

(Ace ignored the smaller, quieter thoughts. The ones that nagged, exasperated and hurt all at once. The tiny, whimpering reminders of _"We could share. We could be one. One body, one family, one pack."_ It didn't do him any good to dream before and it wouldn't start now.)

No, Ace was just indulging Sabo. Why else would he let Luffy follow them home? It wasn't like they were _keeping_ him.

* * *

Luffy was beyond excited.

A whole pack, and they were _his_, and he was _theirs_, and they were _werewolves_– well, one was a werewolf. But compared to before? Back in Fushia, when all he really had was Makino and Woop Slap and the fishmonger and the baker and some of the other nicer people there? A lot of the adults were kind to him, but they weren't _pack_.

Out of everyone there, Makino had almost been pack. She was even happy to let him scent her, but Luffy didn't _want_ to. It would be disrespectful to Shanks, trying to cover up his marks! Luffy may not have much of a bone in his body left for courtesy, but no self-respecting werewolf tried to cover another wolf's claims. Especially not when that wolf was Shanks, the first other werewolf he had ever met besides Gramps.

...Makino never really got it, when he tried to explain. But she trusted his words and trusted his instinct, and that was sometimes more precious than understanding. She was pack, even if technically one of Shanks' pack rather than his own. Even without the right ears, or a tail, or claws and proper teeth. Makino was _happy_ being human, in her human body. Luffy had to learn to respect that in case any of his future pack didn't want to be furry either.

(He wouldn't be hurt. Shanks was so happy even when Makino refused the bite. Luffy wanted to be that happy someday too. Pack wasn't about bodies. It was about _nakama_. Luffy would love them no matter what. They would be his to protect.)

It was a valuable lesson. He didn't expect to put it in practice so soon, but now he had a pack! a _real_ one! Now he had Ace and Sabo, and Sabo was a human but Luffy could smell Ace's claim on him and Sabo never pushed Ace away– They were obviously a pack. A very small, weird pack, compared to Shanks huge and loud and crazy pack, but they were pack.

Luffy was sure Sabo had his reasons for rejecting the bite. Gramps always said it wasn't his business whether people accepted the bite, and Shanks said everybody was different. Luffy knew that. He wouldn't ask, because he knew.

Ace was a little prickly, but so were lots of people. He snapped sometimes, and cuffed him a lot, and liked to swat at him hard enough to make him fall over, but it didn't hurt. He never drew blood. In an odd way, the wildness of them both made Luffy even happier. Ace played rough, and that meant _Sabo_ played rough, and that meant _Luffy_ could play rough. He could do whatever he wanted because _they could take it–_ and he wouldn't– they wouldn't think he was a freak. He couldn't hurt them. Sure, it got a little annoying and frustrating that he never won any fights, but he was just happy to… to finally...

it didn't matter. He had a _pack_. A whole pack. One that didn't snap at him, or leave him in dangerous places like Gramps did, and sometimes they smiled at him or rubbed his ears or ruffled his hair like Shanks sometimes did and that felt so _nice_, to have again.

(It felt nice to be wanted.)

* * *

Ace didn't understand. He tried, but it wasn't working. Spending more time with Luffy wasn't working. In fact, it seemed to make his confusion worse.

Nothing was making Luffy give up. He just kept coming back, no matter how many times they beat him in hunting, or a spar. He just got up every time Ace bowled him over as if nothing could dampen his spirits. It should have been frustrating. It was frustrating. Frustrating, and infuriating, and annoying– and confusing. It would have been so much easier if Ace could just be angry.

...Why couldn't he just be _angry?_

* * *

"Maybe that's just how he is," Sabo said offhandedly one night, when Luffy had once again fallen asleep long before them and Ace got too quiet. "Maybe he's just. Really, really lonely." Lonely enough to crave even whatever company Sabo and Ace could give him.

_Like you. Like us._

Ace did not whine. He didn't. He will admit to pushing his snout further into the crook of Sabo's arm though, as if covering his eyes would make every issue Luffy brought vanish into smoke. It didn't work, but Sabo scratched at his ears and that was pretty nice too.

"Maybe we're his first, like you were mine," Sabo mumbled. "I'm… I'm glad we have him. And each other. I'm happier than I think I've ever managed to be." He fell asleep with his hand still buried in Ace's fur. As if he hadn't just said something more openly sincere than he had managed since he was still injured and Ace had to drag him around. As if he hadn't singlehandedly ruined Ace's chances of a good night's sleep without even trying.

(He spent the whole night wide awake, staring at his pack, his family, and wondered when that stopped being a shallow reassurement and started being a concrete part of his reality.)

* * *

"What do you mean our pack?! Neither of you are pack– Sabo is a _human!"_

…

"Wha–_ of course I haven't offered him the bite!"_

* * *

Apparently, Luffy knew more about what a pack was than Ace. Maybe he really shouldn't have stopped challenging Ace to be the alpha after all, if he couldn't even recognize his own pack. Was his nose broken? Good thing he had Luffy, then.

* * *

Ace had a pack. Had had a pack for months, since Sabo started living with him– how the hell hadn't he noticed? He was embarrassed enough that it took Luffy pointing it out for him to realize.

...He doubted Sabo noticed either. He wasn't a werewolf. He didn't understand what pack really meant. Only a werewolf had the internal pull of a pack bond, and Sabo wasn't– didn't– Did he even know Ace _cared_ about him? As far as Ace knew, normal friends didn't live together. He had seen the people in Goa, and in the Terminal, before they had stopped going there. He doubted any of them wanted to even touch each other, much less live codependently.

Luffy opened his eyes. It was up to him now to take care of things, like a good alpha should. For the good of his pack.

* * *

Ace had been acting weird since he and Luffy had gone hunting together, but Sabo didn't think it was something bad. His friend barely seemed able to contain his own excitement.

"Did you know, you guys?" Luffy and Sabo both perked up as Ace whipped a familiar bottle seemingly out of nowhere. "To humans, if you exchange drinks then you can become brothers." They all watched intently as the eldest poured out three separate cups of sake, eyes wide. Luffy's tail began to wag violently enough to send dirt flying up. "When we become pirates, we may not be able to end up on the same crew… but the bond we share will never die." Sabo grinned as both his brother's broke into a brief silence, wiggling in excitement. Sabo waited patiently, not even bothering to mask how rampantly his heart raced with eagerness.

Finally catching a hint of his previous composure, Ace leaned forward and snatched up the cup closest to him. "No matter where we are, or what we do, This is one bond we can never break…!" He watched with eyes practically sparkling for Luffy and Sabo to pick a cup of their own, raising it high above their heads. (His pack, following his lead. They were _happy_ to do so. He was– Ace could be a good alpha, to his pack.)

"Starting today, we are brothers!" They threw the sake back in tandem.

Luffy gagged, near immediately spitting the alcohol right back out. Ace and Sabo both made equally disgusted faces, eyes watering as they forced it down. "That's gross," Ace said matter-of-factually. They all slammed the drinks back down on the stump.

_None of them cracked,_ Sabo mused, eyeing the cup suspiciously, _but I almost wish they did._ Not that the vile taste of alcohol could manage to dampen the affection still rolling just under his skin. His new brothers seemed to radiate warmth, glowing under the solidification of their new bond.

Lost in his thoughts, he missed the considering look the werewolves shared- both Luffy's questioning head tilt and Ace's determined nod. It was only when Ace reached out and grabbed onto Sabo's sleeve, Luffy latching onto his opposite arm, that Sabo looked up from their empty cups.

"Sabo." Ace hadn't looked so serious since he had told him the truth of his blood. "Lu 'n I need to tell you something." Sabo only blinked, brow furrowed in silent question. He obediently sat when they both pulled on him, tugging him down to the ground alongside them. Both his new brothers were regarding him with an intense expression– more resolute than Sabo thought Luffy was ever capable. "You're our brother now," Ace started, "You're family. Nakama."

"Pack," Luffy chimed in, nodding seriously.

_Pack. He called me… Ace didn't correct him. They both know I'm human, why didn't–_ Sabo paused. He took in the still posture of his brothers, the alert ears, the attentive gaze– "What are you asking me?" He said seriously.

Ace hadn't let go of him. Nor had he actually blinked, Sabo was pretty sure. His grip wasn't tight enough to keep him still, not quite, but it put Sabo's brain into hyperfocus on his two werewolf siblings. They seemed to be watching him for something. A reaction, but he wasn't sure which one they wanted just yet. "You know Lu and I are both born werewolves. We're both D's."

"What does that have to– _ow!"_ Sabo winced, glaring when Ace cuffed him. "Okay, _okay,_ I'm listening." They both settled back down and Sabo distantly noticed Ace didn't release his grip on his sleeve even to smack him.

"We're _true_ werewolves," Luffy cut in, wiggling impatiently. "So we're the ones who have to build the pack. We gotta _find_ our nakama, and–"

_"Do you want the bite?"_ Ace blurted out. Absolutely no tact. His grip tightened when Sabo didn't immediately respond, blue eyes blown wide in shock. The blond barely even noticed when claws pricked through his sleeves. His eyes were frozen on Ace's face. Ace's ears flattened to his head in the face of rejection, anxiety seeping into his posture. "We–We're supposed to ask, first, but– if––" The eldest made a frustrated huffing sound, edging halfway into a whine Sabo rarely heard from him.

"You'll be like us," Luffy said reverently. He pressed closer to Sabo's side, tucking his head against his shoulder. Compared to how Ace looked like he was bracing himself, Luffy was completely relaxed. Happily lounging against his human brother as if everything was already long decided.

Stunned, Sabo wasn't able to do much more than stare. Ace shifted uncomfortably, ears pulled back tight the longer Sabo was silent. "You…" He trailed off. The clearing was bereft of any sound. Not even the distant waves or chitter of insects and leaves managed to reach his ears past the barrier of shock. "A _werewolf?"_

He was staring at Ace, but he could feel when Luffy nodded his head violently against his shoulder. Ace met his eyes gaze for gaze, the grey even and neutral. "A werewolf," He confirmed quietly. "Like us."

_Like them. I can be–_

"We won't if you… If you _really_ don't want it," Luffy murmured, his lowering ears and tail betraying how badly he wanted otherwise. He said it as if the idea alone was painful despite his best efforts to appear otherwise. (He couldn't help it. He doubted Sabo would refuse the bite, and he knew better. A bite alone did not make a pack. Nor did it make a crew, or a friend, or a brother. He _knew_ that. But if– he wasn't, wasn't ready to _face_ it yet, if Sabo refused it would _hurt–_) "You can just be human, and still be our brother. You'd still be _pack_. No matter what. We promised, so– so––"

They lapsed back into silence.

Sabo's mind raced. _I didn't even know this was possible. That werewolves could– well, only werewolves like Ace and Luffy, or Gramps? Gramps is a D too, isn't he– through a bite. A bite they just offered me. For me to be a werewolf. A bite is all it takes for me to be a werewolf, because Ace and Luffy are werewolves, and I am pack apparently and they want me to be a werewolf by giving me the bite and––_ His brothers jerked in surprise when Sabo abruptly reached up and slapped himself.

_I'm only driving myself into circles._

Looking up, he glanced between his two brothers. They were taking turns between staring at him and the floor, unable to handle the prolonged silence. A baby whimper had kicked up in Luffy's throat unnoticed. "You want to make me a werewolf," He said again, unable to help the lasting tinge of disbelief in his voice.

Two nods.

"By biting me."

Two nods.

Sabo fell quiet again. Luffy's quiet _you'll be like us_ rang on loop in his head, louder and louder the longer he tried to focus. _You'll be like us._ A werewolf, like Ace. Like Luffy. He'd lose his humanity, change in ways he didn't fully understand. He wouldn't be the same anymore. It was more than likely permanent.

_I wouldn't be human anymore,_ he thought, the concept muffled as if through multiple mental walls and buried under a hundred blankets. _I won't be human anymore. I'd be like my brothers, who love me._

_The farthest thing from a noble. My family would be horrified. They'd never want me back. What good would a perceived "monster" be in the family business? A single bite is all it would take to render me useless, in their eyes… even more useless than before. They wouldn't have any reason to want me back._

Something disposable, something not worth their time. Was it even an argument, what he wanted?

Sabo felt resolve firm in his gut, heated and intense. "That's all it takes?" He asked, and the words were steady for how quiet they were. "Just a bite?" Two huge eyes snapped to his face, ears shooting up high. Sabo smiled, a tremulous little thing that slowly steadied, strengthened– "Well if it's so easy, hurry up," He teased.

Immediately, he was bowled over by two overeager siblings, yipping excitedly and fur flying everywhere in their seeming struggle to clamber all over him. Sharp claws clipped and scraped, poking through his clothes. Fur jammed into his mouth and tickled his nose– and yet, even as Luffy licked his cheek, he could only throw his head back and laugh.

_Pack,_ his head screamed, loud and warm even without a bite branding him, _this is my pack._

* * *

"So how do we do this," Sabo asked once they all calmed down. "Does it matter where…?" He jumped when Luffy nipped at his shoulder, teeth gently catching on his collar. "Oh– is that–" Ace pushed Luffy's face away, growling playfully when the youngest snapped lightheartedly at his fingers. Sabo calmly let him maneuver him until he was sitting between them both, Luffy behind him and Ace in front, watching on as the eldest pulled his collar and shirt away from the spot Luffy had mouthed at.

"Gramps always said nakama are marked around here," He muttered. Despite his words, he nervously prodded at the meat of Sabo's shoulder until the blond squirmed away with a laugh. "Hold still," Ace grumbled.

"It _tickles."_

"Well, it'd tickle less if you weren't moving!"

Huffing, Ace roughly tugged at Sabo's collar until his brother obediently stilled, scowling in a poor attempt to hide his embarrassed flush. Luffy badly muffled his snicker into Sabo's other shoulder. "Just," Ace started, voice becoming serious, "just say if it's too much? I've— we've never turned someone."

Sabo frowned. Normally such an expression on his brother would be enough cause to poke fun, but there was a distinct little spark of real fear in Ace's posture. Hunched shoulders, downcast eyes— he didn't need Luffy's quiet whine or tightening grip to tell him how seriously his brothers were taking this.

"What if it doesn't work?" Luffy blurted out. He didn't want– never meant to _doubt_ Shanks, but he couldn't help it. He burrowed his face into Sabo's shoulders, ears flat to his head. His quiet "W-What If Gramps was wrong?" Was nearly unheard, buried the way it was against the blond. There was no response from Ace. Not a reassurance or an insult— just silence. The eldest shifted uneasily, seemingly unable to meet Sabo's eyes.

Sabo sighed, loud and obnoxious. Immediately both his brothers' heads snapped up. a low offended growl starting up in their throats only to shift to a confused whine as Sabo smacked both of them upside the head. "Who cares?" He asked bluntly. Reaching out, he tousled both of their heads in a way uncharacteristically gentle. Luffy leaned happily into his touch, responding instinctively to the comfort even as Ace was still frozen from the smack. "We'll still be brothers, we'll still be pack— I just won't be as furry, or smell as bad." ...and probably have a shiny new scar. The second one he'll have gotten, connected to Ace. The older boy had only _just_ stopped fussing over Sabo's healed leg, he wasn't excited to field the anxiety of a new wound if this failed. Ace finally slapped his hand away.

"S-shut Up," he snapped. "That's so stupid— you fucking dumbass! We— we _know_ that—"

Sabo grinned. "Your tail is wagging."

_"Fuck off!"_

Rubber limbs wrapped around them both, cutting off their squabbling with a single tug. "Shishishi," Luffy giggled, "Sabo's right! Ace _is_ dumb." Ace sputtered. Struggling didn't do more than pin him further. "We took the oath. Brothers no matter what! It doesn' matter if it works!" It was Sabo's turn to flush, ducking away from the brilliant smile Luffy so easily radiated his way. For such a scraggly little puppy, their youngest was uncanny in his ability to glow like a star in every space. Sabo snapped out of his thoughts when clawed hands skimmed his bared shoulder. Luffy's grip had finally loosened enough to free their arms, allowing Ace to return to his previous position with new determination.

"Either way," Ace mumbled, unsure if to himself to his younger brothers, "our bond can never be broken." Luffy leaped to mirror him and Sabo reeled at how quickly they both bounced back to attention. The sudden return to seriousness made his heart leap in his chest, an abrupt and loud hammer of _Is this really happening?_ "At the same time?" Ace asked Luffy. The smaller werewolf nodded excitedly, nearly vibrating with anticipation. His claws ripped Sabo's shirt a little moving it out of the way of his other shoulder, but Sabo was too nervous to even comment. His heart beat so loudly in his ears as both werewolves leaned closer.

His hands were vice tight around both of them as teeth sank deep into the meat of his shoulders.

Immediate pain flared up like twin flames. He whimpered, unable to help it, and could feel it through the new wounds when they twitched in barely subdued response. Blood trickled down his collar. Still, he held on for what felt like hours. The feeling of teeth sliding out of his skin forced a strangled noise out of his throat that made both his brothers immediately whine, Luffy lapping almost guiltily at the new marks until the blood slowed to a stop. Sabo was too busy struggling to breathe to even react. He just sat there, trembling through the aftershocks of pain as they gently cleaned the blood away from his skin.

"Hurts?" Luffy whispered, nudging against his jaw. The tips of his ears tickled Sabo's cheek, distracted him from the ache of the bites. Even with his tail still wagging, stuck in the lingering feelings of marking a Nakama, his eyes were wide with worry. "Sabo, does it hurt?"

Ace met his eyes evenly, daring him to lie. Sabo grit his teeth and smiled. "N-no, Lu, it doesn't hurt," he soothed. He earned a growl for that, but it was half-hearted at best. Neither of them wanted to further upset their youngest.

"Gramps didn't say how long it takes," Ace Informed him with only a hint of unease. "But Lu an' I will hunt for all of us until the bites heal a li'l."

Now that, for as sweet the intent was, was offensive. He knew this would happen. He wasn't about to let this start again.

Sabo struggled to sit upright, glaring at his older brother. "I can hunt," he retorted. Luffy yipped unhappily, pressing against his back until the wounds ached, pulsing accusingly. "It's just a little blood! We can just wrap them, and I'll be fine." He carefully stood up, ignoring how the bites pulled. The longer he focused on them, the more he registered how a low thrum seemed to burn from the marks outward– as if venom was spreading through him. A small twinge of uncertainty went diligently ignored. "I'll just take a nap, and we can go get lunch."

There was a whine followed by a series of pops and cracks. Sabo turned to be greeted with the familiar sight of his brothers shifting. Luffy pressed his cold snout against Sabo's leg, only whining when Ace trotted forward to nose at him carefully. Sighing quietly, Sabo just allowed his pack to tug him back down to the floorboards. Encircled in soft, warm fur, his brothers attentively snuffing at his bites with every wince, it was easy to fall asleep.

* * *

The world was spinning. Sweltering, disorienting– as if waking up in the full heat of the sun, nauseous with heat.

He couldn't open his eyes. Not just yet, the lids feeling heavy and swollen. Sabo groaned.

Something freezing cold and wet poked his cheek and he cringed away, weakly attempting to bat the uncomfortable object away. Moving was sluggishly slow, pulling at sore muscles as if he had been training with Garp for hours beforehand. It took three tries before his hand actually made contact with anything– settling against thick, coarse, familiar fur–

Sabo's eyes flew open.

He was forced to squeeze them shut again the next moment. Everything was dark, the fuzzy shadow he was sure was one of his brothers rippling like a swarm of angry hornets. "Ace?" He croaked out. His voice sounded terrible. Like nails on a chalkboard, like scraping rusty steel– "L-Lu? 'S 'at you?"

A piercing whine rang through his head painfully and he jerked back, only managing to make his head swim with the sudden motion. "It, it hurts– q-quieter, please…" Clasping a hand to his head made him nearly flinch back in shock, barely managing to avoid the impulse before another wave of nausea drowned out the world. The heat running rampant through his body couldn't compare to how hotly his forehead burned to the touch. He swore he'd be steaming, if he could. "...'M I sick…?"

"You're changing."

Sabo winced, his head throbbing noisily. The new voice was loud even for how softly it's owner spoke. He could make out a shuffle of feet before cool hands apologetically steadied him, carefully pressing him back down to rest back against Luffy's side. "Sorry," Ace whispered. "We did warn you." Sabo was too busy focusing on trying to breathe to properly retort, hoping futilely that maybe if he filled his lungs with enough cool night air he'd settle a little. A low murmur passed over him and he wasn't sure whether it was meant for him or Luffy– he barely reacted even as one of their ratty blankets was tugged over him.

A softer series of muffled noises managed to pass even more distant to Sabo's ears, meaning lost even as a clawed hand shook him lightly for his attention. He wasn't able to pry his eyes open again. Sagging, Sabo managed a hazy _"mhm"_ in response to whatever was being said before the world faded back out to nothing but blissful quiet and darkness.

* * *

When Sabo next managed to open his eyes, everything was a hundred times less oppressive. His eyes didn't sting trying to make out his surroundings, and sitting up took less effort– his vision barely spun for it all. Everything was still multiple decibels louder, uncomfortably sensitive to his hearing, but for the first time since he settled down he wasn't in pain.

It might have helped that he was alone this time.

Sabo blinked, scanning the treehouse. Neither of his brothers were currently with him– their blankets had been left piled over his legs. Likely tossed onto him before they went out to hunt for breakfast. _How long have I been asleep? A day?_ The sun was still low enough to shine directly through the windows, so it couldn't have been very late in the morning… _Maybe just a few hours. Hopefully._

He heard them long before he saw them.

Head swiveling, Sabo leap to the doorway just in time to watch Luffy crash through the undergrowth, flying head over paws like a rolling bundle of dark fur and dust into the clearing. "Lu!" He yipped, and immediately froze. His hands flew over his mouth only to flinch as claws dug into his cheeks, almost tearing skin as he violently jerked them away again. Whatever noise he made next, staring at his hands, was strangled beyond recognition.

"Sabo!" Luffy skidded to a halt at the base of the tree, mid-shift, totally missing his brother panicking in front of him in his struggle to rocket up into the tree as fast as possible. "Sabo! _Sabo!_ Ace, he's _awake!"_ Ace stumbled into the clearing, dragging a massive boar behind him with both his and Luffy's pipes tied to his back. His black ears perked up at the sight of his blond brother and he immediately abandoned the animal in favor of scrambling up the tree himself.

"You're awake," He said, tail breaking into a wag. When Sabo didn't respond, he backed up a step in order to scan him over quickly, frowning when he was unable to immediately see what was wrong. "What's wrong?"

Sabo just stared at him, limbs dead weight as he tried uselessly to speak. Luffy pressed up against his side worryingly. "Sabo?" His older brother carefully reached out, poking hesitantly at Sabo's shoulder, under his bite. There was no pain, no pull or ache anymore– just the usual twinge of Ace's claws hooking in the fabric of his shirt. "Is it the bites? It's been a couple days now, last time we checked they were mostly sealed up–"

"A couple _days?"_ Sabo finally blurted out, eyes wide.

He threw his hands up, tangling them into his hair. A sharp sting of pain made him yelp, immediately letting go just as Ace growled and slapped his hands away. _"Don't do that,_ you dumbass!" He hissed, but Sabo wasn't listening. His hands were shaking when he slowly reached up to prod at the source of the ache, meeting something soft and unmistakably furry.

"Oh my god."

His free hand flew to his ears, cursing when sharp claws caught on the curly hide of the new appendages. Ace gave him a particularly exasperated look, posture slumping in realization.

"Are you serious? We gave you the bite, you really shouldn't be so surprised."

It was undeniably true, but– "It's not as if you've ever done it before?! It had a chance of not working– of course I'm startled to find my biology changed–"

"Why do you think you got so sick?! I _said_ you were changing!"

Ace watched his brother abruptly cut himself off of whatever was going to leave his mouth the moment he felt soft fur brush the underside of his knees. He could see the second Sabo registered exactly what was touching him too. _"I have a tail, Ace!"_ He squeaked, eyes huge.

Luffy yipped sharply in excitement, practically wiggling in place with excitement enough to cut both his brothers off. "Yeah! Isn't it _great?!"_ He asked. Unable to contain himself, his tail thumped loudly against the floorboards. "Now we're _all_ wolves!" Sabo flushed, unable to handle the flood of positivity practically radiating off his smallest brother. Ace cackled at his expression and Sabo yelped when his hand ruffled his hair, rubbing over his ears in a way that made something in him go loose and warm even through his embarrassment._ Ha, take that. Now you get to know how it feels to be pet too._

"You're a werewolf now," Ace said seriously. "You're not human anymore. You can't always act like one, either." A wicked look took over the eldest's expression and Sabo froze, having a mini heart attack as he felt his ears instinctively press back.

"What do you—"

"We have to fight! An' hunt!" Luffy screeched. Sabo yelped as the youngest pup launched himself at him, forcing them both to tumble head over heels and—

Directly out of the treehouse.

_"Luffy!"_ Sabo screamed, flailing to catch himself on a tree, or vines, or foliage— The rush of leaves past his ears, the snap of branches and startled birds was so impossibly _louder_ now–

Even over the noise he could hear Ace cackling, the bastard. "Better get used to it!" He vaguely heard, "'cause now we're gonna teach you how to be a _wolf_. No take-backs now!"

* * *

AN this is getting uploaded on the last day of my break before next semester starts,, so will probably be a bit before next chapter. Have an extra long one.

also! finally, finally getting to the reasons i wrote this fic. the majority of this chapter was actually written several months ago when i first had the idea sankdbhfjn but yeah no more bridging chapters. now we get tot he Meat which is All Pain


	9. Cyclical

Life has quickly fallen into a routine, once Sabo had healed enough to move around unhindered. If he was honest the change barely felt substantial. The three of them still woke at the same time, in the same treehouse. They still hunted first thing in the morning before training, and then hunted again for lunch, and later for dinner. They still spent time searching for traps and avoiding Dadan.

The only difference was in Sabo's own biology. In retrospect, he should have expected everything he was used to to be amplified, but it still took him several careful days before he could withstand a corpse, or a bird's screech, or even just the stench of Dadan's den. Even finding his paws had been easier. Adjusting to a new body was a lot more internal than he had anticipated.

(Not to mention the new sort of _urgency_ in which his body responded to his brothers. Was this what they had meant, when they said it took a werewolf to make a proper pack? The pull between them, the new shift in his brain to allow for that tug of _claimed-pack-family-blood_ was like a weighted blankets over Sabo's more sensitive awareness.)

Still, a pattern came quickly. The same cycle of wake, hunt, train, run. The kind that they each fell into with barely a hitch in their step.

It was the change of change that was easy; and Sabo did not trust it.

* * *

It was midday, and they were supposed to be _hunting._

They had set out on all fours, tracking a boar down towards the edge of the forest when they heard it– Bluejam's distinctive voice freezing them tight in their tracks. He was downwind of them now. Just over the drop off of the treeline, into the bordering stretch between them and the Terminal.

"-Worry, Good Sir, Everyone in Grey Terminal knows the boys. We're certain your little heir has been the kid running around with the forest brats lately."

Ace peeked through the brush and growled a curse under his breath. "Sabo," He warned, voice almost nonexistent. Nothing else managed to come out.

Sabo inched closer to the edge of the forest beside Ace, trying to peer through the foliage. Ace backed up to give him a bit of space. Immediately, Luffy was attached to his side, tail tight between his legs and eyes huge. Unlike him and Sabo, Ace had warned Luffy not to transform– just in case. If it was as it sounded, and Bluejam's men were looking for them… he would rather it was Luffy in the best position to get away quickly. His littlest brother was still just a _puppy._ All soft, rubbery edges and fluffy fur, barely out of the den.

There was no way either of them would be able to live with it if they risked getting him caught by the same people who set traps out for them.

Ace carefully rubbed Luffy's ears down, trying to shush him before the humans heard him whining. After a moment he glanced up, about to ask Sabo what he had heard. His mouth snapped shut with a quiet click. Sabo's ears were plastered to his skull. "He's looking for _me,"_ He whispered, voice strangled with horror enough to make Ace instinctively reach for him. The words processed cold and heavy in his stomach. "He's trying to… take me back." Sabo shrank away from the clearing, eyes wide and unblinking even as he stumbled back on all fours.

His brother _stank_ of fear. The last time he had smelled so strongly of it they had been– the blood, on Ace's hands, the gleam of moonlight in the panicked white of Sabo's eyes– A feral growl erupted out of Ace before he could stop it.

Immediately, all the voices just outside the forest went silent.

The boys went still. Barely daring to breathe, Ace frantically began to push at his little brothers, trying to shove them further back into the undergrowth. Neither were budging. Stock still, eyes huge, neither Luffy or Sabo seemed able to do much more than remain frozen in place.

They wouldn't move. Ace's limbs locked, jaw clenching. It was as if the silence was making him seize up. _Come on,_ Ace wanted so badly to whisper, his throat tight. His heart was beating so loud he had to tell himself that the humans couldn't hear it. _Come on, come on please— just get back into the forest, get home—_

"I know you're there."

Bluejam's voice cracked across the silence like a whip. All three brothers flinched. Even through the blood roaring in his ears, Ace could hear the distinctive crunch of the pirate's boots towards where they still hid. He couldn't look. Couldn't turn. A shadowed face, eyes dark and greedy, flashed in his mind. "I suggest you come out now." None of them moved. "Or stay there. We could always just start setting fire to the forest." Sabo shrunk away from the clearing, pale hands shakily pulling his top hat low over his face in a poor attempt to hide his low whimper.

Ace's blood boiled. He heated past the fear, past the trepidation. Smoldering tight and molten hot around a single looping thought of _Threat To My Brothers, To My Pack._

"Okay, If you won't come out, then—" Ace grit his teeth and leaped out of the undergrowth. He could hear both his brothers gasp loudly as he moved, barely fast enough to avoid being yanked back by claws frantically trying to snag into his tank top. Ace swore he heard Sabo hiss something nasty under his breath– but he didn't care. However long Sabo decided to be mad at him after this would pale to what would happen if they were all caught.

Ace was the oldest. The alpha. The leader of their tiny pack. He was the most capable. It was his job to protect his family.

Outside of the immediate forest, the air smelled so much worse. It was as if the cover of leaves and trees had blocked the worst of the stench from the mountains. Even the soil felt wrong— mixed with little chunks of rubble, splintering wood, rusty bits of metal that dug into the pads of his feet.

Ace looked up to meet Bluejam's disgusting smile.

_"That's better,"_ the man cooed, mockingly sweet in a way that made Ace's throat tighten around an instinctive growl. "But believe it or not, you're not the one we're looking for, little wolf—" the pirate stepped to the side, gesturing to a man behind him in a short flourish. He clearly stood out from the rest of Bluejma's usual gang; plump flesh sagging into pressed and expensive clothing and extensive mustache wax. "—So, have you eaten the blond kid yet?"

Indignant anger burned through him, hot and quick like a bullet fired through his veins. Ace did not want to answer. Didn't want to give them anything. Not a single clue of where his brother— either of his brothers— were. He could not run. Not without leaving them behind. They were still frozen, he could tell– no rustle of paw pads or fading scents. Nor could he fight and hope to win. Not with how many men Bluejam had, waiting on the edge of the forest– and their captain had always smelled _off_ to Ace. Like a beacon pointing straight at the human declaring _Danger, this one is a Problem_, loud and clear.

Ace couldn't move, couldn't speak.

Not while his pack was still behind him.

The stench of fear was worse even than the trash of the terminal. Putrid enough to make Ace's fur stand on end.

Bluejam sighed, dropping into a crouch to better face Ace eye to eye. He barely paid Ace's growling warning a cursory glance. "Look, pup," he started, and raised a hand in the most insincere surrender Ace had ever seen. "Sir Outlook just wants him to come home. If you _actually_ do care about him, why don't you let him go?" His eyes glinted greedily, just as sharply as the sunlight of the steel muzzle Ace could just spot poking out of his bulging pockets. "I'm sure he wants to go home," he crooned sweetly, "Don't you think he'd be _better off where he belongs?"_

Ace wanted so _badly_ to bite him. He wanted to bury his teeth in his sagging, filthy throat and shake him like a chew toy. He wanted to rip him apart for even _daring_ to insinuate that Sabo wasn't exactly where he needed to be, away from the Terminal and whatever sorry excuse for a human pack he had before he had been _thrown away–_ "Sabo _is_ home!" He snarled, fur sprouting along his back and arms sporadically. It took everything not to just shift, not to lunge– It didn't matter that Sabo may have had a human dad. It didn't matter that he hadn't said a word to Ace or Luffy about it. He had _chosen_ them. Sabo was _theirs_ now. "he'd rather die than come home with that _bastard!"_

Outlook's face twisted in rage. Bluejam looked more amused than anything, content to let the noble step forward from his circle of thugs. "Then he can _die,"_ he hissed, "but not before giving us what he _owes_ us, as my bloodline heir!"

Ace snarled back, just as openly furious— But, surrounded by stronger men, Outlook had finally caught his confidence. "I'll have you _exterminated,"_ he promised. "Now that I know there's such an infestation in the forest— it'll be easy to finally convince the city to begin logging this primitive place." His eyes raked up and down Ace's form and Ace took an involuntary step back. "I do wonder just how much a werewolf will sell for."

The bushes rustled behind Ace and he nearly howled in dismay when Sabo tumbled out of them, eyes huge and terrified. _Of all the times to move–_ Luffy followed right on his heels, teeth clamped right in his tailcoat to no avail. Ace watched his small paws skitter against the soil uselessly and felt his heart fill his throat.

"I-I'm here!" Sabo shouted. His voice cracked and pitched terribly and Ace wanted to cover his ears and hide. "I'm here, I'm _here,_ please just— leave them alone!"

"You_ idiot,"_ Ace managed to whisper. His stupid, idiot brother, trying to keep them safe as if that wasn't Ace's responsibility, Ace's failure– "You— you stupid— _why didn't you run?!"_ Bluejam stepped closer and Ace spun to lock his eyes back on him, all his fur standing on end.

"He's smarter than the average mutt," the pirate said mockingly. His lumbering form had them all frozen in place as he approached them, completely unphased even as both born werewolves' lips pulled away from their teeth in a vicious snarl. "He knew what the best option was."

He reached and Ace snapped— growling guttural in his throat as he lunged for Bluejam. It didn't matter that the pirate was bigger, or stronger, or smelled bad— he was a threat cornering his pack. His family.

But for all that his teeth clamped tight around that filthy hand, Bluejam only flung him away by the back of his neck like a disobedient puppy. Ace scrambled to get up from the dirt, limbs shifting loudly. "I should just kill you for that," Bluejam warned. "I've been pretty nice, you know? And I got bitten for it." His gun clicked in his hand and Ace's ears pressed tight to his head. Bluejam smiled. "I wonder if it's true only silver bullets will kill you."

_"No!"_ Sabo screamed. "You can't— I— I already—!" He lunged for Ace, for Bluejam— Ace didn't know— only to be caught firmly around his midriff by Porchemy and held squirming off the ground. " I'll come home!" Sabo shrieked, eyes wild where they frantically switched between Outlook and Ace, "I'll come home, I _said_ I'd come home— I'll- I'll do whatever you want, just leave my pack alone!"

_"No,"_ Luffy whimpered. Frustrated tears burned in his eyes.

A look from Outlook was all it took for Bluejam to pocket his gun. Still shiny and exposed, a hand rested threateningly on its hilt— but no longer pointing at Ace. Sabo sobbed in relief, sagging. Outlook gave him a considering look. A long one, intense and questioning in a way that made Ace distinctly uncomfortable.

"Your _pack,"_ he said slowly. "Do you really think these feral little beasts and you are a _pack?"_ Immediately, Sabo's face contorted in anger and Outlook shook his head in unsurprised disappointment. It was as if the human had never thought Sabo could do anything but disappoint him. As if he couldn't even be shocked anymore, to be let down– and it made Ace boil. How dare they, how dare he, no wonder Sabo had decided someone like Ace was worth taking a chance with– "They are _dogs,"_ he continued, "I will cure you of this disorder yet— maybe it would be better if we _do_ kill them now—"

_"No!"_

Sabo struggled to get out of Porchemy's arms, writhing furiously. Slamming his head back barely winded the man— sending his hat toppling to the dirt at their feet.

Outlook made a scandalized noise.

_"Are those—"_ he choked. Porchemy obediently held him still as the noble sharply stepped closer, peering incredulously at the furry little appendages almost invisible with how tight they were to Sabo's head. Ace and Luffy both nearly howled with their brother when Outlook yanked at his ears, roughly pulling at sensitive flesh. "You..." disgust barely showed on his face. The noble was too fixated on his task to even be revolted as he forced Sabo's mouth open to see his new canines— nearly dislocating the wolf's shoulder to see the claws on his fingers.

Bluejam immediately flew into shallow apologies, hands raised placatingly. "So sorry, sir, we weren't aware he had become a werewolf–" The pirate passed a considering look at the two werewolves still huddled on the ground and Ace carefully nudged Luffy further behind him. It barely worked. Even frozen, his littlest brother looked ready to fling all safety aside if it meant burying his teeth in Bluejam's jugular. "We can put him down for you," He offered. A growl started immediately in Ace's throat, raw and desperate, but Bluejam didn't even spare him a glance. Even turned away They could see the glimmer of interest in the man's dark eyes. "If you would prefer, for a little extra we will gladly take care of the other pests too."

Outlook shook his head stiffly. "No matter," He hissed, "An heir is an heir. Amputation will not be noticeable under a hat, and claws can always be trimmed and gloved– the right price will properly settle this." His eyes were so cold when they caught on Luffy and Ace.

The two werewolves wavered in place, indecision making them shrink back and forth as Sabo squirmed uselessly. He quickly stilled when the man caught the edge of his ear. "Do what you will, but don't kill them." So, so cold. It didn't matter where he was looking. As if the man– the thing– only had the capacity to be empty. "But know," He whispered, forcing Sabo's ear to turn towards his voice even as the boy shakily tried to twist away, "That I can _always_ change my mind."

Ace felt like screaming. Sabo was so limp. As if the words triggered something within him to flicker out and die. All his fight was gone. Extinguished. His brother was little more than a ragdoll, a pet and a slave– his eyes turned away from Ace, from Luffy, from everything they had– and Ace couldn't see anything familiar in them.

Even when out of sight his scent was still so fresh. The stench of the humans and trash around them couldn't remove the reminder that barely a second ago, Sabo had been happy and _here._

Their brother had been taken, and Ace had done nothing but _watch._

Ace was a failure of a pack alpha.

* * *

its beena long time lmfao sorry. ive been very focused on literally Everything but one piece for the past two months and it Shows

theres only a few more chapters left to this! maybe 2 or 3? im ready to let this fic go lmfao it really has stretched more than i ever intended to let it. anyway heres some werewolf angst

As always, you can find me over at my tumblr, Leviathiane


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